


Spidey-Boy (Captain America's Daughter)

by just_another_wholockian



Series: Spidey-Boy Series (DISCONTINUED) [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-06
Updated: 2018-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:54:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 69,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23855695
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/just_another_wholockian/pseuds/just_another_wholockian
Summary: Madeline Rodgers is just like you, perfectly ordinary. Except for the fact that it turns out she is Steve Rodger's daughter.When Steve Rodgers shows up on her doorstep, everything changes for her.
Relationships: Peter Parker/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Spidey-Boy Series (DISCONTINUED) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1719259
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

She is a nobody, she was abandoned on the doorsteps of a care home with nothing but a necklace and a note, reading 'Madeline, born on the twenty-fourth of July two-thousand and one'. She has grown up in the care system, fending for herself when nobody else would, she knows how to stick up for herself but also knows when to stay quiet. Gina and Mike don't care for the children in the home, as long as social services don't get involved, they don't care how the children entertain themselves. Most of the older ones spend their time smoking, drinking or getting high, none of them has been to school in a few weeks but no one really cares. The younger ones are just as bad, they'll disappear all day and return for food and a place to sleep. No one knows what they do and no one cares, Madeline is the only one who doesn't go out to do drugs, smoke or drink. She goes out to the public library and reads books on maths theories, English techniques and anything else she is interested in, no one questions her, just how she likes it. 

"FOOD!" She stands from her broken wooden bed, the frame has been broken since she was given it, she sleeps with one lumpy pillow and a 'Love Hearts' blanket. Her window is broken, with a few measly sheets of mouldy cardboard to keep the cold out, she has to sleep in all of her clothes most of the time. No one will buy her clothes, she doesn't exist in government records, no birth certificate or social number. She has been wearing the same two sets of clothes since she was eight, she has never been very big and is underweight but she doesn't care. 

She waits in her doorway for everyone else to come rushing past her and go down the stairs, no one has any respect for each other, when she was eight she was pushed down the stairs and broke her arm. She was given nothing but a scarf to make a makeshift sling with, it took a few, painful, weeks to heal. The older ones come first, bounding down the stairs as if there's no tomorrow, followed by Madeline and the younger ones. There is never quite enough food to go around but she survives on what she gets.

She mostly spends her time alone, in her room. She doesn't have much in terms of belongings, just a key charm necklace, which, she rarely ever takes off, two sets of clothes and a small note in fancy handwriting with her name and birthday on it. She treasures the note like it's her actual mother and father, she just rereads some of the books at the home. Due to not existing on government records, it means she doesn't have to attend school, yet, Madeline is the smartest in the house. She can't get a library card so she spends every moment she can at the library, to get smarter and hopefully get a job when she is older.

Everyone sits and eats in silence. Nobody ever makes conversation, there's simply nothing to converse about. Madeline has one of the smallest plates of food, she is always last to the table. She tries to let the younger ones have more food than herself as she knows some of them actually have a family somewhere. The older ones will take food off of the younger ones or Madeline but she tries her best to stop them. She may not have much in terms of strength but when she has to defend herself, it all comes out.

She stands from her chair and goes to the rusted sink in the kitchen. She washes her plate and places it in the dryer, she leaves the kitchen in silence as per the norm. Madeline walks up the stairs and back to her drab room, it is missing wallpaper on one side due to mould ruining it and she has no carpet on the floor. Instead, she has a cold, wooden floor that creaks when she walks. She sits on her bed, it sinks under her due to it being broken in multiple places. Leaning over and she grabs her favourite book, The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness, she opens it and continues to read it long into the night.

* * *

Madeline is one of the last people to get up in the mornings, everyone else has to go to school whilst Gina and Mike go 'shopping'. They only return with shopping once every fortnight but they never bring enough back to last.

Everyone has left except for Madeline, she takes the keys from the countertop so she can lock the door and head out to the library. Nobody has ever noticed her walking down the street, she is invisible to everyone, no one knows she is there. 

Whilst Madeline is walking to the local public library in Queens, her father is in one of the most recognisable buildings in the world, the Avengers' tower.  
"Steve, you ready to go?" Steve picks his shield up from where it was rested against the side of a table.  
"Guess I have to be, there's no going back from here." He climbs into the black SUV along with his fiery-haired female college, he was in no way ready to meet his daughter. She was abandoned at the age of three months but Steve knew nothing of her existence up until he was sent a note, claiming that whoever had written it was an ex-girlfriend. She claimed he knocked her up and she gave birth to a baby girl but never went to a hospital, just ditched her at a children's home in Queens. 

The Black Widow pulled out of the garage and onto the street, she could see that Steve was very clearly worried about how this would go down.  
"You going to do fine, she'll be happy to see you if we find her, I'm sure of it. From the surveillance we gathered of her at the library, she is a smart kid with a bright future ahead of her. She just needs her father there for her." Steve's left leg bounced up and down at Natasha's words, if he'd of known about her any sooner he would have picked her up straight away. Natasha kept it a secret that she was surveilling the girl as she knew Steve wouldn't be greatly happy with her but to her surprise, he took it awfully well. They sped through the streets toward the library that Madeline had become so familiar with in hopes that today would be the day they'd catch her. 

They pull into a car park and get out the car at the same time, Nat eyes the shield that Steve has on his left forearm.  
"Don't you think that's a little threatening? She is just a kid." Steve looks at the shield and nods his head, he leaves the shield in the footwell of the passengers' side. They walk to the front doors of the library together but Steve stops for a moment, worried about finally meeting Madeline. 

Meanwhile, Madeline is sat in her usual spot, with her nose in a book. Today's edition old textbooks that went out of date about a year or so ago, she sits quietly reading, unknowingly being watched by two of the Avengers. Steve and Nat stand a few feet away on either side of her, trying not to attract attention to themselves. They have had a plan in their minds for almost four days, one of them will approach her and ask her some general questions whilst the other makes notes. Unfortunately, Madeline knows everything about who the Avengers are, so, when Natasha approaches Madeline, she is recognised instantly.

"What are you reading then?" Natasha tries to put on a soft voice in front of Madeline but Madeline sees right through it.  
"Just studying for an exam." She replies in her soft British accented voice, Natasha opens her book, A Brief History of Soviet Russia.  
"For someone who grew up in Russia, I would have thought you'd know all there is to know." Madeline stands from her seat and swiftly walks away, hearing Natasha mumble something under her breath.  
"Coming to you..." Madeline spots the entrance of the library and makes a break for it.

She runs out the doors and down to the nearest alleyway, two blocks away from the library. Bending down behind a dumpster, she watches the street carefully for the red-headed assassin, she watches every person that goes by carefully.  
"Kid." Madeline jumps a few inches back and hits the dumpster with her head. She turns around and sees Steve Rogers looming over her with his shield in hand.  
"Look, whatever I did wrong, I'm sorry alright. Just let me go and no one has to know about this."  
"We aren't going to hurt you." Madeline turns around to see Natasha coming up the alleyway, she freezes against the wall, panic flooding through her veins of what she could have done to deserve two Avengers being sent to kill her. They slowly edge closer to her, saying about how she wasn't in any danger and she needed to go with them to the tower. Madeline completely zoned out, she was trying to breathe through a panic attack. They happened a lot when she was younger, she was on edge a lot and still is in certain situations. She lost the feeling in her legs and started to fall, she hadn't passed out from a panic attack since she was six. 

Steve picks her up bridal style and she passes out from the shock of the situation, they walk to the car that Natasha had driven down here. Sometimes FRIDAY was a blessing to the team, they could have vehicles remotely driven to their location at any time. Steve lays her down in the back seat of the car before slipping the shield into the footwell and climbing into the front seat of the car.

* * *

Madeline takes a deep breath in and opens her eyes. Feeling something soft underneath her, she props herself up on one arm and sees a completely white room around her, she is laying on a bed with white sheets and an actual duvet. 

She hears something slide and turns to see Natasha Romanoff walk through the door.  
"Good to see you are awake, you've been out for a few hours." She rubs her forehead, it is pounding, Natasha walks over to her with a bottle of water.  
"Why did you bring me here? Did I do something wrong-?"  
"No, no, no. We have information on your family, or at least your father." Taking a sip of water, Madeline's throat burns as she swallows, she coughs a little.  
"What the hell did you do to me?"  
"You are extremely dehydrated, you need to drink and rest. Your father will be in shortly to talk you through everything that is going to happen to you."  
"Happen to me, what does that mean?" Natasha doesn't answer her, instead, she just walks away and out the door. Madeline gets up from the bed and runs to the door, only for it close in her face, she bangs her hands against it.  
"Hey! Hey! Let me out!" Nothing works, she sits back down on the bed. 

She takes more sips from her water bottle and lays down, a TV comes out of the end of the bed with 'Netflix' on it. A soft, female Irish voice comes over an intercom.  
"Watch whatever you want, Miss." Madeline waves her hand in front of the screen and it moves a cursor around on the screen, she settles for the original Star Wars films. Madeline has seen them before but was only five when she watched them for the first time, she would have rewatched them but the DVD player was broken before she ever got around to it. The Ewoks were always her favourite, whenever she saw one, she'd scream "TEDDY BEAR!" to everyone's annoyance.

She laughs along with Leia calling Chewie a 'walking carpet', she is so emersed in the film at she completely misses the door opening again.  
"Hey." She jumps a little at the new voice but calms down as she sees Steve Rogers next to her, the film automatically pauses.  
"Hey." Is all she can say back to him, she is extremely concerned as to why she is there, she might actually get to meet my father but she doesn't want to.  
"So, Nat gave you the general run down, then?"  
"If by general you mean that I might be meeting my father, then yes."  
"Your father-"  
"I don't want to." Steve seems shocked by her sudden snap.  
"I don't want to meet him, if he wanted to be apart of my life, why give me up?" Steve understands what is being said but seems almost upset by it.  
"What if he didn't know you were born?"  
"I guess that's different, why who is he?" Steve just places a file at the end of the bed before walking out of the room, leaving her in silence. 

She grabs the file and opens it to see it is a file, or rather, a page on herself. They have a picture of her in the top left corner with the Avengers' A symbol next to it. Her name, date of birth, race among other things are on the sheet. 

Biological Parents: Mother: Unknown  
Biological Parents:  
Mother: Unknown.  
Father: ROGERS, Steven

"Steve Rogers? No, he's not - I'm his daughter?"  
"'Fraid so kid, he just as shocked as you are. He is actually breathing deeply as of right now due to being in shock." Madeline stares at the page, she is not sure who is now stood at the door, she doesn't recognise the voice.  
"C'mon, I'll show you around." She finally looks and sees Tony Stark with a glass of alcohol.  
"Why? Won't I be going back to the home soon?"  
"No, why-? He didn't explain. Okay, well, you going to move in here so you can live with your father. We will be leaving here soon to go to the new facility upstate as soon as I have put the tower on the market. Everyone lives here, for the time being, you can meet the whole team now or one at a time. Whatever is good for you." 

She follows him down a corridor to what looks like a living room area. There's a black leather sofa with a few plain blue throw pillows on it with a flat-screen TV opposite. A massive long window is either side of the TV, from here you can see the whole of Manhattan.

Luckily there's nobody on there except for one woman Madeline recognises, Pepper Potts.  
"Ah, Madeline. It's good to meet you." She sticks her hand out for her to shake and she does so kindly.  
"So, this is the main area where we sit to watch films or hang out. The kitchen and dining room are next." Madeline follows Tony down the hall and he gestures to a large kitchen and dining room, it looks awfully fancy. A high tech oven, expensive looking dining table and chairs make the room slightly intimidating.

"Your room is next. There's not much in it right now, just a bed, a vanity and a TV. You can decorate it however you like, we'll go back to the care home at some point to collect your things to make it more homey for you." They walk toward a corridor filled with identical doors, there are no windows as there are doors on either side of the large corridor. Tony stops in front of one of them and opens it for Madeline.  
"Sorry, Wanda, wrong door." Tony back out a little but not before Wanda replies in her thick Sokovian accent.  
"At least you use the door, unlike Viz." There's a weird sound before a British voice chimes in.  
"Miss Maximoff, I have expressed how sorry I am-"  
"VIS! Use the door!" Tony chuckle before closing the door fully.  
"Don't worry, you are nowhere near Vis, he's not big on walls or doors. It's fun. This is your room." Tony pulls the handle down and lets Madeline walk in first, her room has white walls with a dark navy blue carpet. The walls are bear, yet, still have more on them than the ones at the care home, the bed frame is a dark natural wood colour with plain white bedsheets on it. There are at least three pillows at the head of the bed, the TV is mounted on the wall opposite it. A white vanity sits next to the door on one side with a wardrobe on the other, there is a black wall at the very back of the room. Tony pulls something from his pocket and taps it before gesturing for me to follow.  
"And this is your view." Almost on queue, the black wall lightens to reveal a view of New York City, almost all of it. Madeline stares in awe at the incredible view, unable to look away from it.  
"That door there leads to your personal bathroom, you have everything in there. Toilet, bath, shower, sink - you get the idea. Feel free to get comfy, I believe Sam is making a snacky lunch so eat what you want and then we'll discuss getting your stuff from the care home." She still hasn't looked away from the view but nods to Tony having completely missed what he said.

"Enjoying the view, huh?" She snaps around to see Steve leaning against the door frame, looking out the window like she just was.  
"Yeah, I'm more of a natural kind of girl." He nods his head before taking a deep breath.  
"We need to talk..."


	2. Chapter 2

"We need to talk." Madeline decides to sit on my bed and prepare herself for this.  
"So, I'm your father. I see Tony has shown you around the place already and told about getting your stuff from the home. FRIDAY has dealt with all the paperwork so you are legally my child now." She sits in silence and just nods, she feels awkward having this conversation with him right now.

"Good, good. Lunch is ready, it's a picky lunch so grab what you want." She nods her head and gets up from the bed, she follows Steve back to the dining room.

The table is completely covered with different snack foods, crisps, sandwiches, a few small bowls of sweet, salad...  
Madeline picks up a plate and takes a couple of sandwiches, thankfully no one has noticed her yet. Everyone is busy in conversation with each other, Pepper and Tony are flirting whilst cutting salad, Steve and Sam Wilson are making drinks for everyone and Nat is playing a game on her phone. The chair next to Madeline scraps as it is pulled out and Wanda Maximoff sits next to Madeline.  
"Madeline, right?" She nods her head as she takes a bite of her sandwich. She puts her hand out for Madeline to shake and when Madeline does her head starts to tingle a little.   
"Wanda..." Nat warns her from across the table.  
"Sorry." Madeline continues to eat her lunch as Steve brings her a glass of water, she eats some crisps and a few sweets before Steve asks about going back to the care home.

They go down to the garage together and get into a sports car. Madeline doesn't really care about going back to the care home, it's more about what Steve will see whilst there. The broken window, the blanket and lack of belongings just add up to a depressing childhood.

The car pulls up outside of the care home and Madeline gets out, Steve comes into the house with her and is instantly bombarded by Gina and Mike.  
"Hi, the name is Gina. I am a career here, why don't you go to your room and pack your things? There's a box up there for you." Madeline walks away to her room, leaving Steve to have a chat with Mike and Gina. She walks into her room, seeing the same wooden floor and mouldy wallpaper. The tower seems like a holiday in paradise compared to the is, Madeline takes the box off of her bed and starts to sort her belongings out. She folds up her pink blanket first and slips it into the bottom, she grabs her other clothes, folding them and placing them over the top. She stacks a few of the books from her room on top and takes her History of Oscorp book out from under the mattress. Leaving the pillow behind, within the space of five minutes she is done. She takes one look back at her excuse of a room before heading for the stairs, Steve is halfway up them but stops when he sees her.  
"Need a hand?"  
"Nope, all done." He looks at the box in her arms before walking down the stairs beside her.

After saying goodbye to everyone, the pair gets in the car again and Madeline places the box on the back seats. Steve takes off, down the road and keeps eyeing the box a little every so often before looking at Madeline.  
"So, that's it, then?"  
"Please don't pity me. I have had a pretty bad childhood and don't really want pity." He nods and puts his attention back on the road again before Madeline, again.  
"You can decorate your room however you want, I think Tony is looking into paint colours and whatnot as we speak. You can buy new clothes if you want to, you can buy whatever you want."   
She agrees with everything Steve is saying as she likes the sound of it, the more he talks, the more comfortable Madeline feels around him. Madeline thinks he has no idea how to act around a girl or a child for that matter. 

The ride back to the tower feels shorter than it did on the way there to Madeline, she grabs the box from the back seat and follows Steve to the main entrance as it looks like the lift is broken. Steve gets distracted by an agent telling him about something, probably the lift, Madeline waits for him before he turns to her.  
"Go on ahead of me, I'll catch up." She walks ahead of him and walks past some trees and bushes scattered about the front of the building. Madeline catches the eyes of a boy, he has straight brown hair and dark eyes like she does. He is wearing a pair of jeans, a blue shirt and a hoodie, yet, he rocks the look. Madeline can't help but blush dramatically and smile to herself as he continues to stare at her whilst passing. It takes Madeline a second but she soon realises who he is.  
Harry Osborn.  
Norman Osborn's son.

Madeline looks ahead again, only to bump into the man himself, she drops the box and it falls on its side. Everything she owns comes tumbling out of it in an embarrassing way, she looks up at Norman and feels stupid.  
"Sorry, sir. I wasn't looking where I was going-"  
"Ah, Madeline! There you are, back from the care home already? Is Rogers getting the rest from the car?" Madeline feels her face heat up a little.  
"No, this is it, my entire life in one box." Madeline picks up a few of the books and places them back in the box again, she notices that Madeline's History of Oscorp book has fallen right under Norman's feet. How cliche? He bends down and picks the book up, it is the only book in decent condition, the rest are either ripped or have stains on them. She hid it under her mattress because technically it was Gina's but Madeline stole it about a year ago.

"Where are your clothes?" Tony pulls Madeline out of her thoughts.  
"I only have two sets of clothes, ones I am wearing and one set is in the box." Norman studies Madeline for a moment as she picks the box back up again.  
"We'll have to order you some off of the internet, for the time being, though you can wear some of the Avengers' stuff-"  
"No, no. Stark, that simply won't do. The girl needs clothes now, she can come along with Harry and me, it's about time Harry got some new clothes." He gestures to Harry who is leaning against an all black car.  
"No, I'll just be intruding. I don't have any money anyway so-"  
"Nonsense, it's on me. Anything for the Captain's daughter, speaking of which. Captain Rogers!" Madeline stands awkwardly with her box of belongings as Norman and Tony walk over to Steve, who is now covered with grease.

"Hi." Madeline jumps a little at the new voice but when she turns and face them, she instantly feels happy.  
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm Harry." He puts his hand out for her to shake and she put the box on the floor, Madeline takes his hand whilst staring at his face. He has a very defined jawline that just screams hot at anyone who looks at him.   
"I'm Madeline, I think I am coming shopping with you?" She gestures to Steve and Norman nodding in agreement over something, Steve signals for the pair to join them. She picks the box back up again and walks over to them.  
"Madeline, it looks like you will be joining us for a shopping trip. Harry, why don't you take Madeline to the car? I'll be there in a moment."   
"Remember, don't tell anyone who you are, only Harry can know."  
"Okay, but what about my stuff-?" Madeline's box suddenly floats out of her arms and toward the building, she sees a small glint of red over someone's hand on the inside of the building.  
"Wanda's got it covered." 

Madeline walks to the car with Harry and he opens the door for her, she climbs in one side and puts her seatbelt on. Harry does the same on his side before trying to get information about Madeline out of her.  
"So, what shops do you like?"  
"I haven't actually been clothes shopping before - actually, to be perfectly honest, I have never been shopping at all." Harry smirks, Madeline's heart skips a beat at his smirk.   
"I guess we have our work cut out then."

* * *

They arrive at the large mall with expensive looking shops everywhere you look, Madeline takes a moment to absorb the atmosphere of the place. Norman's phone starts to ring and she can see that Harry is saddened by it, do they not spend a great deal of time together or something? Norman rushes off with his phone pressed to his ear, Harry watches him before sighing deeply.  
"I don't know anything about shopping, care to give me the grand tour?" Harry smiles and Madeline's heart rate quickens slightly, he sticks his arm out for her to take.  
"M'lady." She takes his arm and he guides her to the first shop.

It's full of multicoloured clothes that look the exact same to Madeline, Harry drags her past them all and to a leather seat.  
"Wait here, I'm going to choose out some clothes out for you." Before she can respond he has rushed away to get her some clothes. Madeline sits in silence and watches as people come out of the changing room just behind her, people go in with a few items and come out with, either, less or the same amount.

She watches them go by for almost twenty minutes before Hary comes back to her with some clothes, he has three whole baskets full of them. He pushes the basket into her arms and points to the changing rooms behind, he is clearly out of breath from getting the clothes. He follows Madeline in and they find a room with a seat outside for him to sit on, she disappears with the baskets and sorts through the clothes. There are all sorts of shirts, shorts, jeans, even a few dresses and a bikini.

There are all sorts of shirts, shorts, jeans, even a few dresses and a bikini 

Madeline sticks her head through the curtains, Harry sits on the seat on his phone, she holds the bikini up  
Madeline sticks her head through the curtains, Harry sits on the seat on his phone, she holds the bikini up.  
"Absolutely not, for starters, it's way too big and I don't wear bikinis or dresses." She hands him the bikini and dresses, he just smirks at her. Madeline can't help but feel like this is what Harry wants to see her wear and not so much what she wants to wear and she is right. Harry wants to turn Madeline into something she's not, he wants her to be perfect for him and not for herself. She tries to brush it off but it's kind of hard to with him smirking the way he is. It went from cute to creepy unbelievably fast.  
"What size are you then?"  
"Oh, no, if I tell you that you're just going to go and get it in my size whilst I'm not looking. I am not as stupid as I look you know." She continues to sort through the clothes and pick out some jeans and the blue vest with feathers on it, luckily, both of them fit perfectly.

She walks out and shows them to Harry, who in return nods his head eagerly.  
"Yes, I love it." 

* * *

After an hour of Harry and Madeline shopping together, they decide to get something eat. They take a seat at a table meant for four and put their bags on the chairs next to them, Madeline has around six large bags full of new clothes. Mostly t-shirts, jeans and shorts along with a few rings and some stuff to decorate her room with. Harry only has four medium sized bags that aren't full like Madeline, as much as she hates spending other people's money on herself, she didn't really have a choice. 

Harry fiddles with the receipt in his hands as they wait for their food to be brought to them, Harry got a Big Mac with a coffee whilst Madeline only got medium fries with a banana milkshake. Their food is brought to them and they eat together quietly until Harry notices someone in the line.  
"May!" A woman who looks as if she is in her early forties waves to them, she turns to a man beside her before coming over to the pair.  
"Harry, it's been too long. Peter hasn't seen you in so long, how are you?"  
"I'm good, how's Ben?"  
"He's great, everyone is great. Who's this?" She gestures to Madeline and she feels slightly awkward.  
"This is Madeline, we have just finished shopping together. When is Peter next free? I have some exciting news for him."  
"He's free this afternoon, he should get back from school any time now, I think he is with Ned. Feel free to go to the apartment and stay as long as you like." Harry nods and May walks away, Madeline notices a gap in the crowd and a bunch of security guards searching for someone.  
"Hey, I think your dad is looking for us." Harry gets up and grabs Madeline's hand, in his other hand he tries to grab all of the bags but fails. Madeline grabs the ones he dropped and Harry guides her out of the mall in secret.

"We'll go to Peter's, he's great, you're going to love him." Harry guides Madeline through the street, still holding her hand.  
"We grew up together until I moved to private school a few years back. I have been back in New York for like eighteen months now but just haven't had a chance to see him yet."

* * *

"Harry!" A boy with the same brown hair and dark eyes as Harry and Madeline does, a few strands of his curly hair fall over his face as he hugs Harry.  
"It's been too long." He pulls away from the hug and spots Madeline stood behind Harry awkwardly.  
"Peter, this is Madeline, we met today at the shopping centre. She has just recently moved to Queens with her dad." Madeline nods along with what he is saying, having absolutely no idea how to act in this situation.   
"Come on in." He lets them into his apartment, there is already someone watching Star Wars on the TV.  
"Ned, you know Harry, this is Madeline." Peter keeps gazing at her but she tries to ignore it.  
"Hey, Empire Strikes Back, love it." Everyone in the room freezes and stares at Madeline.  
"She likes Star Wars?" Ned says.  
"Yeah, I love it, look what I picked up today." Madeline looks in her bags until she finds her red shirt with the words 'Make love, not war' and two AT-ATs - well - making love, not war. She holds it up and they all laugh at it, they all take a seat on the sofa together as the film continues. 

Within five minutes Harry's phone is ringing and Madeline sees it is his father calling him, he sighs and answers the call. There's a lot of 'yeah's, 'I know's and 'but's before the phone call is over, Madeline can hear a small voice on the other side, he sounds angry. Harry hangs up and collects his stuff up, Peter pauses the movie as the group says goodbye.  
"Sorry, guys. I have to go, I'm kind of grounded now." He walks to the front door with Peter just behind him, he stops just before closing the door behind him.  
"Oh, by the way, Peter, I am starting at Midtown School of Science and Technology next week."   
"Really? Awesome! See you on Monday then?"  
"Can't wait." And with that Harry was gone. The group go back to watching the film and the boys strike up a conversation with Madeline.  
"So, Madeline, where are you from?" Madeline swallows, hard.  
"I am actually from Queens, I was in the care system until my dad pulled me out. He didn't know I existed until a few weeks back." Ned and Peter nod but still look confused.  
"What's with the British accent?" Madeline has only just realised she has a British accent when no one at the care home does, why?  
"I spent a few years with a British family growing up in Brooklyn, I guess I just caught the accent from them." They buy into the lie, it's technically not a lie - except for the British family part.

They continue to get to know each other better until the film ends, Peter can't seem to stop staring at Madeline. It is making her both uncomfortable and blush at the same time, he smiles and blushes himself when Madeline does. She thinks it's adorable. 

His aunt and uncle come home around five o'clock and Ned leaves. Madeline leaves with him but after she has properly introduced herself to May and Ben, they are such a cute couple. She walks in the lift with all her shopping bags and Ned at her side. Just before the doors close, however, we hear a muffled yell from Peter.  
"MAY!" Madeline can't help but laugh as Ned times to stifle his laughter.

* * *

She walks into the tower and is instantly greeted by the same Irish voice from yesterday.   
"Hello, again Miss Rodgers. Your father is waiting for you in the dining room." Madeline goes straight into the lift with all her bags, the lift here is incredibly fast. The doors ding open and she walks past her room, dropping her bags in the doorway as she goes and straight to the dining room. Everyone is sat around eating spaghetti.  
"Hey, kid. We need to talk."  
"About?"  
"School." Madeline takes an empty seat and Vision brings her a plate of spaghetti.  
"Thanks. What about school?" Tony and Steve share a look and smile whilst Madeline starts to eat.  
"Well, Norman Osborn asked about your education and I explained how you're self-taught. He asked about your level of knowledge and after he dropped you and Harry off he came back here. We looked at the CCTV tapes and you were studying some pretty advanced theorems."   
"Was I?"  
"Yes, and Norman has some pull at a local school, Midtown School of Science and Technology." The same school as Peter.  
"He managed to potentially get you a space at the school, I am still waiting to hear back from him about it though." Steve chimes in.  
"If it's a yes, you'd start on Monday along with Harry."  
Madeline smiles at the thought of seeing Peter again.   
And Harry, of course, Harry as well.


	3. Chapter 3

Madeline pulls her sleeves over her hands and picks at them slightly, most her old hoodies have holes in the sleeves from where she picked at them. She straightens the chair up with the table as she continues to eat, the rest of the Avengers introduce themselves, James Rhodes, the ex-military guy who is now War Machine introduces himself to her. So far, everything is going great, she hasn't embarrassed herself. Yet. Plates of food are passed around along with cups of water and cutlery. The group start eating and Madeline keeps one hand under the table 

"So, Madeline, what's your thing?" She looks up at Sam.  
"Sorry, what?"   
"What's your thing? What are your interests?" She takes a moment to calm down before answering him.  
"I, ugh, enjoy reading, nature. I don't really have that many interests." Sam nods his head.  
"Have you ever been to Central Park?" Madeline shakes her head.  
"Really? How come?" She shrugs her shoulders slightly.  
"Just... been too busy, I guess." She picks up her cup and takes a sip of water from it.

After dinner, she helps clean up the plates and cups, taking them to the sink Wanda approaches her with a stack of books.  
"Have you read any of these?" She reads along the spine of the books, The Maze Runner series, Hunger Games series, Jane Eyre, The Swiss Family Robbinson. All of which she has read but the last three catches her eye.  
"The 5th Wave, I never got around to reading that."  
"You can borrow it if you want?"  
"Yeah, if you wouldn't mind." She shakes her head before taking all but the series back to her room. Madeliene places the dishes in the sink before picking up the book and going back to her room. She places it gently down on her chest of drawers before flopping face first onto the bed. She doesn't realise how tired she is from the day until she falls asleep. Still fully dressed.

* * *

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK  
Madeline opens her eyes, still, in the position she was last night, she rolls over and slides off of the bed. She opens the door to meet Sam.  
"Woah, you look awful. Pancakes are ready, help yourself." Madeline rubs her eyes slightly as she wakes up.  
"What time is it? Also what day is it?" Sam looks at his watch on his wrist.   
"It is now, eight forty-ish on a cold Saturday morning in January. You managed to sleep for over ten hours." She closes her door behind her as they walk to the kitchen. Everybody else is already up.   
"Ah, perfect timing, Madeline." Madeline grabs a plate and a pancake. She takes a seat next to Pepper as they discuss something about the tower being on the market, she puts a little bit of syrup on her pancake before eating it within two minutes. She stands from the chair and puts the plate and cutlery in the sink.  
"Hey, you've barely eaten anything." She shakes her head a little.  
"I'm fine really, I've never really eaten that much at breakfast anyway, so..." She walks back to her room and pulls some fresh clothes from her wardrobe and lays them on the bed. Madeline takes her necklace off and put it in her vanity that Tony was kind enough to buy. She picks up her clothes and walks to the door, she opens the door to a massive bathroom. The bath looks about three sizes too big and the shower is built into the floor, it looks as if it has lights in the shower head. She turns the shower on, cold tap first, the lights shine blue but as heat is added they fade to a green colour. As it gets hotter and hotter the lights turn red. She strips off and stands under the warm water, this has to be her first shower in a week. Don't worry she washes every day, Madeline grabs one of the small bottles of shampoo that are already in there and washes her hair.

She turns the taps off and grabs a towel from the rail, it's a heated rail as she burns her hand on it. She changes into her new clothes, a red and black plaid shirt with a pair of skinny jeans. She grabs the hair drier sat on the counter beside the sink, quickly dries her hair with it before returning it. She puts her towel on the rail again before taking her old clothes back into her room and dumping them on the bed, unsure of what to do with them. She walks to her vanity and pulls out her rose gold necklace, she does the clasp up at the back and lets it fall around her neck. She walks into the kitchen to see everyone is still there.  
"Hey, I was thinking of going out..." Steve looks up from whatever file he is reading.  
"Okay, do you need some money?" She shakes her head.  
"No, I'll be okay." Steve shakes his head and pulls his wallet from his back pocket and pulls out a ten dollar note.  
"Take this, you can buy yourself lunch and anything else you want." She shakes her head and pushes it back to him.  
"No, I can't take it. No, it's your money I shouldn't." Steve gives her a look and she gives in.  
"Fine, but I won't be taking any more." She takes the note from his hands and stuffs it in her back pocket. She walks back to her room and grabs The 5th Wave.  
"Remeber, you can't tell anyone who you are, okay? It's not safe for everyone to know."  
"Okay. Hey, does anyone have a bag I could borrow for today?"   
"Yeah, go into my room and you'll see a small black backpack near the door." She recognises the accent as Wanda's. She opens the door to Wanda's room and spots the bag almost instantly, she grabs it and throws the book in it.  
"I'm heading out, see ya. Thanks for letting me borrow the bag and book, Wanda."  
"Do you have your phone?" She walks back into the kitchen.  
"No, I don't own a phone." Tony looks at her a little weirdly before going to a drawer and pulling out a brand new phone.  
"You can have this one, it's got a sim card in it already, all you need to do is turn it on." She takes the slim black phone from his hands and holds the power button down. The screen lights up with the Avengers' A logo.  
"It already has all of our numbers in it, call us if you need us." She nods her head and walks to the exit.  
"See ya later." They all say goodbye to her and she slips the phone into her back pocket.

After searching for a way out for ten minutes, Madeline finally makes it to the streets. She knows where Central Park is from the house but she is not sure where to go from the Avengers tower. She crosses the street and tries to follow the signs that read 'Central Park'.

Twenty minutes later Madeline finds Central Park and sees that it is busy with pedestrians, people walking their dogs, going for a jog, people doing art or just sitting and watching the world around them. She spots an empty bench and walks over to it, she places the bag down next to her before pulling the book out. She opens it to the first page and starts reading, she has a habit of pulling at necklaces when she wears them or when she is concentrating on something. She blocks out the noise from around her, the dogs barking, people walking, people talking, anything.

SNAPMadeline's head shoots up to the left of her, she sees someone holding a camera up about four foot away, it's old but it looks like it's brand new at the same time  
SNAP  
Madeline's head shoots up to the left of her, she sees someone holding a camera up about four foot away, it's old but it looks like it's brand new at the same time. They lower the camera and she sees it is in fact, Peter. He looks at the camera, not noticing that she has noticed. He smiles at the photo, Madeline feels a small blush appear on her cheeks and he finally looks up at her. He goes a little red in the face for a moment before stumbling on his words.  
"Sorry, Madeline, it... it was just a beautiful girl- beautiful SHOT! A beautiful shot! Sorry, I'll delete it." She jumps up from the bench and approaches him. Madeline slings the bag over her left shoulder and holds the book in her hands.  
"No, no, no. Don't. I want to see it."  
"Well, I have to get them developed first but you're welcome to tag along. It's only a ten-minute walk to the shop." She nods her head and he leads the way.  
"Lead the way, Peter."

They continue to make conversation as they walk to the camera store, she found out his Uncle gave him the camera and that he is the same age as she is. All she told him was that she lives with her dad and that she hasn't enrolled at a school yet. Technically she is not lying about all of it, she may not like lying but she knows she can't tell him about being Captain America's daughter, he'd never believe her.

They walk into a small looking store, there are different lens and multiple different types of camera rolls all around the store. Madeline sees at the back, in a glass case, are more cameras just like Peter's, some older ones and some newer ones. The store is completely empty, except for Peter, the attendant at the cash register and Madeline herself.  
"Ah, Peter, got another roll for me to develop?"  
"Yes, I do, Mr Poter." Peter puts the camera down on the counter and pops the back open, Madeline looks at the delicate looking inside of the camera. He gently takes the roll and hands it over, Mr Poter takes it from him and disappears out the back of the store.   
"This process usually takes about an hour but I dropped off another roll yesterday so you can look through those photos." She smiles and nods her head just as Mr Poter comes back out from the back of the store with a folder in his hands.  
"Give those about an hour and they'll be ready. For now though, here are the ones you delivered yesterday." Peter take the folder and gets his wallet out of his back pocket.  
"Here's the usual." He pulls out about six or seven dollars and hands them to Mr Poter who puts it straight in the register. He turns back to Madeline and she only just realises how defined his jawline is.  
"So, what do you want to do? We could go get some food, walk around the city for a bit, it's up to you." Madeline shrugs her shoulders slightly.  
"Get food, I didn't really eat breakfast this morning so I'm kind of hungry." He nods his head as he places his pictures in his bag.  
"Oh, I have to take you to Mr Delmar's Deli. Best. Sandwiches. In Queens." She nods her head as he leads the way out of the store.

The pair continues to chat as they go to Mr Delmar's, Madeline learned that he was apart of his school's newspaper but dropped out and that sometimes he sells pictures to the Daily Bugle. She told him that she has never done any after school clubs, again not a lie.

He pushes the door open and holds it for her, Madeline sees two other people in the store getting sandwiches.  
"Hey, Mr Delmar." They walk up to the counter together.  
"Ah, Mr Parker. Usual?"  
"Yeah, please and could you squeeze it down really flat, please? Thanks. What do you want?" Peter turns to Madeline and her eyes scan the boards with the different sandwiches on them.   
"What do you suggest?" Peter looks at the board.   
"Number five is pretty great, provided you're not allergic to anything." She thinks for a moment.  
"I don't know if I allergic to anything. Oh well, I guess we'll find out, number five, please." Mr Delmar nods and gets to work on their orders, Peter pulls his wallet out from his back pocket and pulls out two five dollar notes. Madeline pulls her money out of her pocket but Peter shakes his head.  
"No, I got it."  
"No, I should pay for mine, you shouldn't have too." Peter still shakes his head and hands over the money.  
"Too late, it's on me." He smiles at her and for some reason, she can't help but smile back at him, she stares into his deep brown eyes for a little too long. Pulling her gaze away from his, they both go a little red in the face and chuckle nervously for a moment.

They pick up their sandwiches and head out of the store.  
"Back to Central Park?" Madeline nods her head, Peter again takes the lead as she doesn't know where she is going. The walk and train ride back is filled with laughter as Peter makes jokes and is just a cute dork in general to Madeline.

They find an empty picnic bench to sit at, the pair sit opposite each other and start to eat their sandwiches.   
"Hey, what book were you reading earlier?" Madeline pulls the book out of her bag and slides it across the table to him.  
"The 5th Wave, it's very good, from the first like ten pages I have read. Highly recommend it, the film is coming out next week I think." Peter nods along as he reads the blurb on the back.  
"I might look for it in the school library." He slides the book back across the table to her, she slips it back in her bag before continuing to eat her sandwich. Madeline only eats about half of it before getting full, she rewraps it in the paper and drops it in her bag.  
"Not hungry?"  
"I don't really have an appetite."  
"Probably just stress from moving."   
"Yeah, probably." Madeline's phone buzzes in her back pocket, she pulls it out to see she has a text from dad or Steve or Captain Rodgers? She doesn't know.

STEVE RODGERS  
Can you come back in about an hours time? We need to talk about something... x  
Read 12:39

Madeline locks the screen again and turns back to Peter.  
"Hey, how much longer until those photos are finished? I need to be back at the tower by two o'clock." Peter looks at her a little weirdly.  
"Tower? As in the Avengers' tower?" Madeline sees a little spark of excitement in his eyes at the thought of this. Madeline sits in silence for a moment as she tries to think of a way around this.  
"Yeah, my dad is a scientist there. The photos?" Peter snaps out of his excited moment and checks his watch.  
"About ten minutes left, it'll take us about that to get back to the camera store from here anyway." Madeline nods her head as she does her bag up. Peter rewraps the quarter of his sandwich up again and stuffs it into his bag. They stand from thier seats and Peter takes the lead as Central Park looks the same from any direction, except for where the Avengers' tower is.

"Oh, I was going to show you those other photos." As they walk across the street, Peter reaches back, into his bag and pulls out a small folder with photos in it. He hands it to Madeline as he struggles to do his bag back up again. She opens the folder and has a small flick through the photos. One catches her eye, it is of Peter but with a couple, Madeline doesn't recognise them.

"Are these your parents?" Madeline points to the photo, Peter shakes his head at the photo.  
"No, that's my Uncle Ben and Aunt May. My parents died when I was younger..." She puts the photo back, feeling guilty for bringing something like that up.  
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"  
"It's fine, you didn't know, you got any photos of your family." Madeline clears her throat a little.  
"Uh, no actually. Like I said last night, my dad only just found me and I have never had a proper family, except for the British couple I guess." Peter grows a little shy as we walk into the camera shop.  
"And your... mother?"   
"Never met her, I was left on the doorstep of a care home with nothing but this necklace and a note." She pulls the necklace out and lay the charm on her hand so he can see it.  
"Oh, it's really pretty." He says this as he looks at Madeline and not the charm but she tries to ignore this.  
"Ah, Mr Parker, just in time. The photos are ready." Mr Poter disappears for a moment before returning with another set of photos, he places them down on the counter and Peter is instantly going through them looking for the photo of Madeline. She looks around the store again, mesmerised by the number of different cameras and the different style of each of them. Peter finally finds the photo and hands it to her, she can't help but smile at it.

Peter finally finds the photo and hands it to her, she can't help but smile at it  
It is her favourite - and only - photo of herself, Madeline looks back at Peter.  
"I love it, you are really good at photography." He scratches the back of his neck a little and looks at the floor.  
"Thanks, keep it." She looks back up at him with excitement in my eyes.  
"Really?" He nods as he packs up the rest of the photos. Madeline puts the photo in her back pocket, next to her phone to keep it flat. They walk out of the store together.  
"Where too?"  
"The Avengers tower, please."  
"Yes, m'lady." She can't help but giggle at him as he bows to her, she pretends to curtsy with an invisible skirt.  
"After you, my lord." He takes the lead as they walk back to the tower together.

After another twenty-minute trek to the tower, Madeline says her goodbyes to Peter.  
"Well, thank you for today, I don't really know what I would've done all day except for reading."   
"Well, I am glad you enjoyed it. I enjoyed it too." There's a moments silence between them where they just stare at each other, not in a creepy way, more of a cute way.  
"Goodbye, Peter."  
"Goodbye, Madeline." She turns and struts into the tower, she has never felt so confident. She walks straight into one of the lifts to be greeted by FRIDAY, Tony's weird AI thingy. A wide grin on her face that won't seem to fade.  
"Good afternoon, Miss Rogers. Tony is waiting for you in the living room." She steps into the lift and it takes her to the living room.  
"Hey."  
"Hey, kid. Good news, you are starting at Midtown."  
She gets to see Peter again.  
And Ned and Harry, obviously...


	4. Chapter 4

"I got Steve's permission. So, you will have your own apartment." She looks at him with a little sadness.  
"How close to the school?"  
"It's only a twenty-minute train ride to Midtown School of Science and Technology as even I can't get an apartment in Midtown but it has its own station. I need you to read through this and pack all your stuff up, you're moving to your new apartment tonight. Natasha will call you for training." Madeline nods her head and Tony picks up a file with the school logo on it. She takes it off of him and start to gently flick through it, she sees a timetable with her lessons on, a map of the school and a permission slip.  
"What's the permission slip for?" She pulls it out of the file and reads it.

OSCORP TRIP TUESDAY JANUARY 19TH

"That's this Tuesday, am I going on this trip?" Tony nod his head.  
"Yes, FRIDAY is creating a fake signature for the slip now. Go read through the file, you'll find your fake name and any other needed material in there." Madeline nods her head and walks back to her room, file tucked under her arm.

She places the file on the bed and lays down with it in front of her. She opens the first page to see a profile of herself, a fake one at least.

Name: Maddie Smith

"Talk about generic..." She mumbles under her breath before reading on.

Date of birth: 11/07/01  
Previous exam results: English; B+, Maths; B-, Physics; A*, Chemistry; A+, Biology; A...

"Wow, Stark has really outdone himself, hasn't he?" Madeline asks no one imparticular.

* * *

She reads through the information at least three times and packs two suitcases of stuff before she is called for training, she goes into his wardrobe and pulls out a sportswear top and a pair of leggings. She grabs a grey sports bra that Natasha gave to her and changes into them, putting on a pair of running shoes last to cap it all off.   
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK   
She opens the door to see Natasha in training gear as well, she has her long fiery locks in a braid. Madeline grabs herself a hairband and put her hair up in a ponytail as well.  
"Ready to go?" She nods and follows her to the training room. She wonders how badly bruised she is going to be after this.

They got cut short because Natasha was needed for a mission, Madeline was kind of thankful for it. Every muscle aches as she walks back to her room, she flops straight onto her bed and groans into the covers.  
"Rough workout huh?" She looks up and sees Wanda in the doorway. Madeline can't physically respond so she just groans again instead, Wanda laughs at this a little and sits next to her on the bed.  
"What did she teach you today then?" Madeline lifts her head and faces her but with it still on the bed.  
"Just how to kick people and punch people. Also how to break a person's arm, is it bad that I can't wait to use that one?" Wanda laughs a little.  
"Which method? The grab and twist?" Madeline nods her head, thinking back to how to do it, you have to grab the person's arm, twist it around their back and pull down.  
"I haven't quite mastered it just yet but I'm getting there." Wanda pats her on the shoulder before standing up again.  
"C'mon, dinner will be ready in a few minutes." Madeline nods her head and stands up. She grabs some fresh clothes and gets changed before walking into the dining room. It's leftovers from last night. Not too bad, some of the team are on a mission so there's no point in cooking a full meal for everyone who isn't on the mission. The only people left behind are Tony, Wanda and herself, at least it will be a quiet dinner. Wanda sits next to her with Tony opposite us. They start to eat in silence when Wanda strikes up a conversation.  
"So, how was your walk today?" She can't help but feel a smile crawl across her face at the thought of today.  
"Yeah, it was good. I read a little got to see the city while I was at it, it was nice." She can't stop herself from smiling. Wanda looks behind her for a brief moment.  
"Is that a photo in your back pocket?" Madeline freezes for a moment, if it is possible, her smile grows bigger at the thought of the photo and Peter.  
"No." Wanda goes to grab it but Madeline moves before she can, she just smirks in response.  
"Awww, it's such a pretty photo of you." Madeline turns to see she has used her powers to pull the photo from her pocket and make it float above Madeline's head. Madeline stares at the red smoke like energy coming from her hand. She reaches out and touches it, it feels soft like a piece of cloud. Madeline runs her hand through it and it breaks apart before coming back together again as if nothing ever happened.   
"Who took it?" She turns back to the table plucking the photo from the air as she does and replacing it in her back pocket.  
"Just a friend of mine, I met him yesterday. He's one of Harry's old friends" The thought of Peter again makes her happy, Madeline really likes him, he is cute, funny and a dork. She gets to move to her apartment tonight, hopefully, it will be close to his so she can see him. Madeline is scared of living by herself though, she hasn't really gotten to know Steve that well and wants to spend more time with him. Madeline looks down at her food and realises she has lost her appetite for worrying so much, she pushes the spaghetti around with her fork before dropping it and leaning back in her chair.   
"You alright?" She meets Tony's gaze but only for a moment as she can't hold it.  
"Just not very hungry." Tony and Wanda share a worried look.  
"You need to eat, you only ate a single pancake this morning. What did you eat for lunch?" Madeline tucks a few loose strands of hair behind her left ear as she looks down at her hands.  
"Half a six-inch sandwich." Tony and Wanda seem to grow more worried at this information.  
"Kid, you need to eat, you're not eating enough." Madeline shrugs her shoulders.  
"I get by..." The pair looking at each other worryingly and Wanda's eyes glow red for a moment before Tony looks away from her.  
"When are we leaving for the new apartment?" Tony still seems worried but it is the only way Madeline could of think of to distract him.  
"Right after dinner, go on, go get ready." She stands from her chair and picks up her plate along with the cutlery before thanking no one imparticular. She carries them to the sink and washes them, she trudges back to her room.

Opening the door, she picks up her shoes from the floor and slips them on. She ties the laces and stands the suitcase upright, she grabs the few plastic bags of her stuff left and heads to the lift. As she walks past the dining room she hears Wanda and Tony speaking about her.  
"She's clearly underweight."  
"What do you want to do Tony? Force feed her?"  
"It's an option-"  
"No, no, it is not. Just wait until Steve gets back, we'll discuss it with him, he is her father after all."  
"Yeah, alright." Madeline walks past the room and acts as if she never heard anything. She steps into the lift and as the doors start to close someone's hand blocks them. The doors open again and Tony steps in.  
"FRIDAY, to the garage, please."   
"Yes, boss." The ride to the garage is short even though it is at the bottom of the building. Tony steps out first, taking a couple of bags with him for her.

They walk up to a black car with tinted windows, the boot opens up automatically and Tony lifts her suitcase in before throwing the bags in. Madeline climbs in the passengers' seat and Tony starts the engine up.

It's a long ride to Madeline's new personal apartment but Tony explains everything in it for her.  
"It's two bedrooms, one bathroom. I managed to get an amazing view for you, you can see almost the whole of Queens from your bedroom balcony. Anyway, the kitchen has a safe oven so it can put out fires if they occur, a new piece of tech I have been working on. The usual stuff as well as a kettle, microwave, rubbish disposal, sink that stuff. You have a connection to the tower in the TV. If you need to talk to someone, don't hesitate to call." She nods her head and stares out of the window, only taking in some of what he is saying. She watches as the city flashes past her eyes and the sunsets in the distance.

She has to walk into the building by herself as Tony can't follow due to being recognised. She goes straight to the lift and presses the number '6', Tony got her the very top apartment and brought the one opposite it to make sure she'd be alone all the time. Madeline likes that Tony cares so much about her safety but she thinks he went a little over the top with all the stuff in the apartment.

The doors ding open and she walks into a small corridor, dragging her suitcase along behind me with the other bags hanging in the crook of her elbow. Madeline reaches into her pocket and pulls out the key for the apartment, she puts it into the lock and it unlocks itself. The door gently opens and she sees a massive apartment, on one side, is a flat screen TV with a medium blue sofa in front of it. The walls are completely white, except for where the kitchen is. It has a breakfast bar, with black countertops and grey cupboard doors, the tiles surrounding the kitchen match the grey doors. Overall it's a calming kitchen to be in, the stools at the breakfast bar are plain black and the sink in plain black. The oven is built into the wall with the hob on a countertop next to it, I open the cupboards to see them stocked up with food.  
"How do you do it, Stark?"

She walks down the corridor and into the bathroom, it's medium sized but it looks high-tech. The shower looks exactly like the one back in the tower, there are multiple bottles of shampoo, conditioner, shower gel and even a few bath bombs. Madeline closes the door again before heading into what she guesses is her room.

The door opens and she sees a pale red room with nothing on the walls, a double bed with black sheets on it. A small vanity sits in the far corner with the window next to it, she walks over to it and sees two drawers either side of the chair in the centre. She sees a couple of yellow sticky notes stuck to the mirror.

Remember, you need to get up at seven to be in school at eight thirty. I will come and check on you whenever I can Steve x

There is a bag with all of the needed stuff for school under the bed. To unlock your laptop, just enter your name. There are three thousand dollars in the draw for you to spend on whatever you want. Tony

Have fun and remember, if you see any hot seniors, call me ;-) Wanda xxx

She turns away smiling and looks under the bed, she spots two bags. Madeline drags them out one at a time, one is a lot heavier than the other. One of them is plain black with flowers embroidered on it, she opens this one first to see school books. The other bag is slightly larger and plain, pale blue, Madeline opens it and sees a laptop and a digital watch. She pulls it out and sees it is one Tony has designed, she opens it and turns it on, the Avengers logo shows up and a login page asks for a password, Madeline types her name into the laptop and it unlocks. It has Word and Publisher on it already, there must a wifi signal somewhere around as it says it is connected to one. Madeline places the laptop on the bed along with the bags, she slips the watch on her wrist and yet again the Avengers' A logo shows up. She flicks through the different screens on it and sees there is a map of the local area, including how to get to the school and she can even receive texts alerts on it or set alarms on it and get FRIDAY on it.

She stands up straight and feels her phone fall from her pocket. She catches it just in time before it hits the floor. She picks it up and reaches into one of her back pockets before realising she still has the photo in there. She pulls it out and look at it again, and - yet again - she can't help but smile at it and the happy memories it brings. Walking over to the vanity, she manages to wedge it in between the wood and the mirror, she steps back for a moment and looks at her reflection. She opens the drawers to find a few hair bands in them and the three thousand dollars, she takes one out and puts her hair up in a high ponytail. She pulls the hairband tight and spins to face the door when she spots something. She looks at the reflection of the back of the photo. There's writing on it. She pulls it out of its place and turns it over.

Call me. ;-) Peter.

He wrote his number on the back of the photo. A small squeal escapes Madeline's lips as she pulls her phone from her pocket. Madeline opens messages and taps his number in before sending a message reading.

Madeline 🤓  
Hey, it's Madeline. 

Sent 18:43

Madeline unpacks her stuff and gets ready for bed, she picks up her phone, hoping she has a reply from Peter.

Unkown  
Hey, thanks again for today  
Read 20:16

She saves his number to her phone as Peter. Eating the leftover sandwich from earlier as she's now starving, she replies to him. She hides the fact that she is going to Midtown school so that Madeline can try to find him and surprise him.

Madeline 🤓  
No problem ;-)

Sent 20:17  
Read 20:18

Peter 📷  
I'd love to meet up again sometime  
Read 20:18

You don't have to if you don't want to  
Read 20:18

It was a stupid idea, I didn't even think you would text me tbh.  
Read 20:19

Madeline 🤓  
Peter, I'd love to meet up.   
I can't tomorrow or the day after.  
What are you doing on Wednesday?  
Sent 20:19  
Read 20:20

Peter 📷  
Really? Yeah, I can do Wednesday. My friend  
and I am going to build a Lego Death Star,   
want to join us?  
Read 20:20

Madeline 🤓  
HELL YEAH!   
Can we rewatch them?   
I haven't sat and watched   
them for years.

Sent20:20  
Read 20:21

Peter 📷  
YES! I'd love to watch them with you. How about on Wednesday?  
Read 20:22

Madeline 🤓  
Sounds great,   
meet at your place?   
What time?  
Sent 20:22  
Read 20:22

Peter 📷  
Yeah, I get out of school at 2:45, my place for 3:30?  
Read 20:22

She scribbles down his address on one of her new notebooks that are meant for school, she doesn't really care though, as she doesn't know his address from when Harry and I were there.

Madeline 🤓

Perfect. Goodnight Peter...  
Sent 20:22  
Read 20:23

Peter 📷  
Goodnight Madeline...  
Read 20:23

She jumps for joy as she has never felt so happy or excited. She climbs into bed, wanting to fall asleep fast so Wednesday could come sooner.

* * *

Madeline doesn't know how long it took but she fell asleep, her eyes flutter open and she sees the incredible view at daybreak. She takes in the view for a moment before checking the time on her phone. '06:45', sort of had a lay in. She goes into her wardrobe to try and find the perfect outfit for her first day at school. She picks out an orange crop top and a high waisted black skinny jeans to go with it. She looks on the shoe rack below it and picks out a pair of matching black ankle booties to go with them, she grabs a black denim jacket to go over the top. All of these clothes were bought by Harry, she misses him, they haven't spoken in a while. Not since he was grounded. She grabs her key necklace to put over the top before starting to sort her books out, she checks my timetable for the day.

Period 1. Algebra, Miss Estrov   
Period 2. English Literature, Mr Carter   
BREAK  
Period 3. Calculus, Mrs Keller   
Period 4. Physics, Mr Smith   
LUNCH  
Period 5. Chemistry, Mrs Rodriguez

She checks the room numbers against the map she was given so she can map a route of the school. She grabs the books needed for class and throws in a water bottle, along with a small snack for lunch and thirty dollars for the day. She zips the bag up and heads to the shower.

* * *

Madeline checks herself out in the full-length mirror in the bathroom one more time before leaving for school. She checks the time and realises she needs to get the train in a few minutes, there's a station just outside her apartment building that goes to the school luckily. She walks out the front door and into the lift, the doors close and she looks at her appearance in the mirror on the back wall. Madeline decided to have her hair down today, she has never been one of those girls who cover their faces with makeup, not that there is anything wrong with it, she just doesn't want to. Plus, she's super lazy.

The doors open and Madeline walks out, into the lobby of the building. There are only a few people around and the doorman at the door. She walks onto the street and watches as the busy streets of New York somehow become busier, people walking around with Starbucks in their hands or they are on the phone to someone or they are just out sightseeing. Madeline walks to the station just in time for the train, she hops on and spends twenty minutes wondering how she is going handle being the new kid at school for the first time.

She walks up to the main gates of the school and stops to take in the building in front of her, there are already teenagers filing in the doors. She walks up to the doors before having sort of roughly pushing her way through the crowd to get to the student reception.  
"Hi, I'm new here and I need my locker number... please. I also have this permission slip to hand in." The bored receptionist blows a strand of her fiery red hair from her face before facing Madeline.  
"Name?" She takes the permission slip from her hand and puts it in a pile with a few others.  
"Maddie Smith." She taps the fake name into the computer with her inch and a half long fake nails, she clicks something on the screen. There's a moment of silence before a weird scraping sound fills Madeline's ears, she leans back in her chair and grabs a slip of paper from a printer.   
"Locker 1854, straight down this corridor, take the second left and then the first right after that. You'll find your locker in that corridor... somewhere." Madeline takes the slip of paper from her hands and slips it in her pocket.  
"Thanks." She walks down the corridor, still full of people to try and find the locker. She pulls the piece of paper from her pocket and rereads the number as she goes.   
"Straight down this corridor, take the second let and then the first right after that... or was it the first left then the second right-?" Madeline looks up just as she bumps into someone. They both fall to the floor, they drop their books and drop the sheet of paper with Madeline's locker number.  
"Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going, sorry." She makes eye contact with them and sees it's Ned.  
"Hey, I didn't know you were starting here." She picks up a couple of his books and her own sheet of paper.  
"I only found out yesterday. Could you help me find my locker, I'm new here and I have forgotten where I have to go." He nods graciously.  
"Of course. Does Peter know?" Madeline hands him the slip of paper with the locker number on and he leads the way to her locker.  
"No, I want to surprise him."   
"Your locker is actually across the hall from his." They continue to walk down the corridor full to the brim with students getting ready for the day. Madeline struggles to keep up with Ned as people keep pushing past her, she is used to it though. Walking through the streets of New York city is the exact same, people pushing past other people to get to wherever they're going.   
"Here you are Miss Smith, your locker." Ned gestures to the locker in front of him.  
"Thank you."  
"Your combination is on the back of the locker, there's a sticker there so you can peel it off and keep it." Madeline turns the lock over and sees the combination to it, she unlocks the lock and opens it to find an empty locker. She pulls her timetable from the front pocket of her bag and sees that calculus, chemistry or physics till later on. She throws those books in the locker so her bag is lighter.

The bell rings through the corridor and everyone collectively groans before walking to their lessons. Madeline checks where she is meant to be going as everyone else wanders away.  
"Algebra, Miss Estrov, room 54." She pulls the map from her bag and walks toward the correct room. Luckily it is only two corridors away, she knows she is going to be late as the rest of the corridor has completely emptied of people. She quickens her pace as she swings around a corner, the classroom is in sight now. Madeline walks up to the door and takes a deep breath before walking in.

All eyes are on her now.  
"Ah, you must be Maddie. Everyone, this is our new student, Maddie. You can sit next to... Michelle!" She looks around the class and sees a girl with curly brown hair and her nose in a book. Madeline walks over and sits next to her, she looks at her once before putting her nose back in her book.  
"I'm MJ, you can hang out with me if you want."  
"Thanks." Madeline can tell today is going to be a long day.

* * *

"Chemistry next, it's not that bad, to be honest. We got Parker and Leeds to keep us company." Madeline nods along with what MJ is saying as she finishes eating her 'lunch' and MJ reads one of her books whilst drinking a hot cup of tea. Lunch is almost over and it's only one lesson left, Madeline sure she'll survive. MJ and she have become friends, they don't really talk about much but when they do it is mostly to do with their personal lives.

The bell echoes through the canteen and everyone stands to go to their next lesson, MJ and I are some of the last people out of the canteen. As we walk through the corridor I see Ned ahead of us with someone else, Peter. We down three more twisting corridors before we get to the chemistry labs. At least I'm not the last one into class again. This is going to suck.

MJ and Madeline walk in together, Madeline goes straight up to the teacher.  
"Where should I sit? I started today."   
"Well, actually I was just reshuffling the class, you can sit next to Mr Parker." She points to a boy who is trying to get his stuff out of his bag under his desk. Madeline can't see Peter anywhere in the classroom, maybe they don't have chemistry together. She walks over to the seat next to him and places her bag on the desk, she unzips it before going to introduce herself.  
"Hi, I'm-"  
THUD  
"Ow." He rubs his head as he looks up at her.  
"Madeline?"  
"Peter!"


	5. Chapter 5

"Peter!" Madeline smiles at him as his face brightens up at the sight of her.  
"Hey, I didn't think you enrolled at a school yet?"   
"I only found out yesterday and today is my first day, so-"  
"Miss Smith, Mr Parker. Care to share your conversation with the rest of the class." Both Madeline and Peter go red in the face as they turn back to the front of the class.   
"No, sorry." She nods her head and goes back to the question on the board. Maybe this class won't be as bad as Madeline thought it would be.

* * *

The bell for the end of the day goes and Madeline packs up her stuff before going to her locker. She opens it and checks her timetable for Wednesday as she has a full day trip to Oscorp tomorrow. She closes the locker and looks to the right of her to see one of the other boys right in her face.  
"Hi, the names Flash." He sticks his hand out for Madeline to shake and she does so kindly. Peter comes back over to her locker, visibly worried about Flash being here. Flash spots him and clearly gains a confidence boost.  
"Penis Parker, what are you doing here? You're freaking out my lady friend here. Scram!" He puts his arm around Madeline's shoulder and Peter goes to walk away but she grabs his arm. Madeline turns to Flash, ready to twist his arm like she was taught to.  
"The only one who needs to leave is you." Flash seems taken back by her comment and she pushes his arm off of her shoulder.  
"Baby-agh!" Madeline grabs his arm and twists it around his back before pushing him against the lockers so he can't fight back.  
"Don't call me that! I am not nor will I ever be your 'baby'! If I see or hear you tormenting Peter again I will break your arm. Got it?" Everyone stops to look at Madeline who has him pinned against the lockers. She hears a muffled 'yes' come from him as his face is smashed against the locker.  
"I'm sorry, what was that?"  
"YES!" She releases his arm and glares at him, he walks away gripping it tightly. She turns back to Peter who just stands with his mouth open.  
"Are you alright?" He continues to stand and stare at her in shock before snapping himself out of it.  
"Yeah, I actually came over here to ask if you are busy tonight?" Madeline shakes her head as she swings her bag onto her shoulders.  
"Do you want to come to my place and watch the first Star Wars?" Madeline nods her head with a smile on her face.  
"Really? Great, let's go." Peter takes the lead as they walk down the corridor together.

* * *

"Hey, May, Ben. You remember Madeline, right?" Madeline walks into the apartment just behind Peter and the first thing she sees is May, she stands from her seat and walks over to Madeline with a grin on her face.  
"Hello again Madeline, we've heard so much about what you and Peter did on Sunday-"  
"Aunt May! Not now, we are going to my room to watch Star Wars. Is Ben back yet?" May shakes her head.  
"No, in the next half hour. Keep the door open, no funny business!"  
"MAY!" Madeline can't help but snort out in laughter as Peter drags her by her wrist to his room. Peter's touch sends electricity up Madeline's arm, Peter closes the door behind him and leans against it for a moment. His room is rather small but cosy, there's a double bed in the centre of the room with a desk opposite that is covered with bits of broken computers. The walls don't have any posters on them and are a pale blue colour, there are a few stacks of books scattered around. His lamp beside his bed is balanced on a box full of more books.

"I see you like to read, then?" Madeline points to the stacks of books around the room.  
"Oh, I just do some small studies on circuit boards and what not." He picks up a couple of the books and gestures to the table of computer junk.  
"You and I have a very different meaning of small." He continues to clear the floor up slightly and Madeline spots an old looking laptop on the desk as he tries to clear it so he can get to it. She starts to help him as she picks up a few pieces and place them down in an empty box gently.

Peter opens the laptop and Madeline sees he has already started to rewatch the movie. He drags the mouse along the timer bar at the bottom of the screen so that the movies restarts. He walks back to his bed and crosses his legs whilst sitting down, he pats the bit of bed next to him and she joins him.

They watch the film in silence, the only thing breaking the silence is Madeline asking him question about each character. His Uncle brings snacks in for them and says hello to her, he is a genuinely nice guy and Madeline sees why Peter is a nice guy. They continue to watch the film and eat some crisps before being called for dinner by his Aunt. Madeline takes a seat opposite his uncle as they begin to eat.  
"So, Madeline, what do you think of Midtown?" Madeline sallows a piece of lasagne before answering.  
"Yeah, it's a great school, I have enjoyed my first day there." She continues to eat even though she knows she's eating too much. She justs snack on food here and there, never has she ever eaten a full meal. She forces herself to eat this as I know it would be rude of her not to.

During dinner, she learned that the Parker's have been married for almost thirty years, Peter loves Star Wars and even started his writing his own fanfiction about being Han Solo when he was younger but he threw it out a few years back. She told them her favourite film when she was younger was Wall-e and that Eve is her favourite character. She told them that she soon developed a love for young adults' book, such as The Hunger Games, The Maze Runner, Chaos Walking, Harry Potter etc.

After dinner, Madeline tries to help with the dishes but get shut down by all of the Parkers in unison. She sits and waits as Peter collects the cutlery, May does the washing up and Ben cleans the table over. Madeline checks the time on her watch, '19:33', she knows she should get home soon but she doesn't want to leave.   
"We have the last ten minutes of Star Wars to watch so, we'll be in my room." She stands from the table and follows Peter to his room.  
"Thank you for dinner," Madeline says as she walks away. The pair get comfy on the bed again before he presses play on the laptop.

* * *

"Thanks again for dinner." Madeline turns back to his Aunt and Uncle as she walks to the door with her bag on her back.  
"Are you sure you don't need a lift home?" Madeline shakes my head.  
"I'm sure, it's not that far anyway."  
"Alright, see you tomorrow for the trip?"  
"Yeah. Goodbye, Peter, thank you for tonight, I enjoyed it." He smiles at her and she smirks as she walks away.  
"Goodbye, Madeline." Is the last thing she hears before he closes the door and Madeline walks to the lift. She can't help but smile as the lift goes down to the bottom floor, Peter and her are growing closer and she loves it. Madeline walks out of the lift, she pushes her way through the glass doors and a gust of cold wind sends a shiver down her spine.

She checks the map on her watch so she knows where to go in order to get home, the breeze continues to blow over her, blowing pieces of hair in her face. She walks back toward her apartment, passing a few sketchy alleyways as she go.

"Hey! Give me your purse and all your jewellery!" A gruff male voice screams, Madeline turns to her left and sees a dark alleyway, she walks toward it a little to try and hear what is being said.   
"I've given you all my money! Please don't hurt me!" A terrified female voice replies, she hears a distinct click of a gun. Before even processing what she is doing, she's running down the alleyway toward the mugger.   
"Oi!" Madeline yells at him, he turns and she grabs the gun, twisting his arm around his back, she pins him against a wall.  
"Agh!"He drops the gun and Madeline kicks it away from him, she grabs the woman's money from his satchel and gives it to her.  
"Go, run now." She nods, runs back to the open streets and disappears out of sight. Madeline turns back to the mugger, ready to punch him as hard as she can but he's already a step ahead of her. He punches Madeline as hard as he possibly can on her left cheek, she stumbles back for a moment before regaining herself. He bends down quickly to grab the gun again but not quick enough, Madeline grabs him by his hair and smash his face into the wall. She sees a small amount of blood appear and he falls to the floor unconscious. Madeline backs away from him, grabbing the gun and toss it into a dumpster to be safe. She walks back on to the open streets, quickening her pace in order to get back to the apartment faster.

She leans against the door for a moment to take in what just happened. She beat a mugger up. She smiles to herself, knowing that she has successfully helped someone today makes her happy. She walks to the bathroom and gets ready to get in the shower, she turns to face the mirror and realises a bruise is forming on her left cheek where he hit her. She gently touches the bruise but instantly winces in pain as it is very painful to touch. She turns the shower on, ready to shower and go straight to bed after a crazy day.

* * *

For the trip today Madeline decided that she won't dress up, she just wears a purple shirt, black ripped jeans, plain black ankle booties and a sand coloured oversized cardigan.

"Hey, Maddie - what happened to your face?" Madeline tries to brush more hair in front of her face to conceal it, she meets MJ's gaze as MJ tries to get a better look at the bruise.  
"I fell out of bed in the middle of the night and well, I think you can see what happened." She gestures to her face as they go to the first lesson to get registered for the trip, unfortunately, it happens to be chemistry with Peter. Madeline walks into the class and MJ leaves her side as she takes her seat, Madeline walks over to Peter. Making sure to keep her head down so he won't notice the bruise. She drops her bag at her feet, keeping one strap in hand, ready to get on the buses.  
"Hey, you alright?" She looks at Peter without fully turning her face, she notices he has his camera hanging around his neck.  
"Yeah, just nervous about the trip today." He seems to grow a little agitated and sadden by Madeline' answer.  
"Is that why you are concealing the left side of your face?" She sighs and lifts her face up so he can see it fully.  
"What happened? Was it when you were walking home last night? I knew I should have forced you to accept that lift-"  
"Peter, I rolled over and fell out of bed. I got home fine last night." He lets out a deep breath at this.  
"Oh, okay. Good - I mean, not good, your face is bruised but it doesn't make you look any less beautiful. I mean-" Madeline feels a small blush appear on her face as he continues to stumble on his words.  
"Let's head out to the buses." Everyone stands up from their chairs and walk out the door, Ned comes over to Peter and Madeline with his phone in hand.  
"Have you guys heard about the woman who was saved by a gifted person last night?" Madeline feels her body tense up a little.  
"No."  
"Apparently she was getting mugged at gunpoint when out of nowhere this other woman helped her by beating a guy at least four times her own size down. The woman got all her belongings back and wasn't harmed, nobody knows who this new hero is but I hope they stick around." She nods along with what he is saying, hoping that the subject will change quickly. Continuing to walk to the buses, she tries to calm herself down, she is mostly worried that Steve will find out and yell at her for not telling him about getting beat up.

"Everyone, on the bus." They file onto the bus, Madeline takes a seat behind Peter and Ned. MJ walks over and sits down next to her, her head in a book, Madeline assumes this is normal for her.

The entirety of the trip to Oscorp is spent talking about the new, so-called, 'hero' and how she could be a real asset to the Avengers team. Madeline tries not to comment on this new person too much in case she says something stupid and gives her identity away.

Everyone gets off of the bus and are directed into the facility, the first thing they are looking at is the history of Oscorp, which, Madeline had already studied at the library. She is going to smash this.

* * *

The group continues to walk to the next exhibit, they are studying cross-species genetics and how that can be applied to helping people with different illnesses. The guide directs them around to a hologram with a spider showing and its genes, Madeline sees five small glass boxes with twigs in them.  
"At the moment, we are studying spider genes and how radiation affects them. We have five different species of spiders we are testing in on here." She gestures to the glass containers and everyone gathers around them, Madeline's stomach rumbles as it is close to lunchtime. She watches as everybody stares into the glass cases, she steps forward and notices the second one along in empty.  
"Excuse, miss, one of the spiders is missing." She knows a fake smile when she sees one and she is seeing one right now.  
"They must be studying it now." She turns to one of the scientist nearby and seems to give them a stern look. Madeline rolls her eyes at how obvious they are being, she feels a small tap on her shoulder and turns around to see Peter clutching his camera.   
"Can I get a couple of pictures of you in front of the cases?" She smiles as she stands in front of the cases, he holds up his camera and repeatedly takes photos.   
"Okay and one with a silly facial expression." Madeline pulls a silly facial expression and Peter takes the photo of her.   
"Thanks." He fiddles with the camera for a moment whilst Madeline walks over to the small placks with information on each species on them.   
"Ow!" She turns around to see Peter clutching the back of his neck, he has dropped his camera on the floor. MJ goes over to help him.

Madeline walks to Peter's side and picks up his camera, he is rubbing the back of his neck. She checks the camera and sees that it is okay, just a slight scuff mark on one corner.   
"Hey, are you alright?" He nods his head, still rubbing the back of his neck, she hands him his camera.  
"It doesn't look broken." He checks the camera over and pops the back open. He gives it the once over before slipping it into his bag.   
"Listen up, you have an hours lunch break, you can leave the facility but go no further than two blocks away." Everyone celebrates for a moment, Ned joins Peter and Madeline.   
"There's a small pizza place next door, want to go?" They both agree and leave the lab, Peter keeps touching the back of his neck as they walk into an empty lift.   
"Hey, let me take a look at that." Peter pulls down his collar and Madeline sees what looks like a bite of some kind.  
"Does it hurt to touch it?"  
"No, it just burns and it feels like my back is on fire." Madeline gently touch his neck with her index and middle finger, she feels the heat from it, it feels like an open flame. She straightens his collar out again just as the lift doors open. Directly in front of them is Harry.  
"Harry!" Peter instantly recognises him and the two of them hug, leaving Ned and Madeline to step out the lift and wait for them to finish.  
"Peter, sorry about the other day. Madeline, I see you are wearing the clothes I bought for you." She blushes slightly and Harry smirks but it's his dirty smirk again.  
"Hey, so how come you're not on this trip?"  
"Unfortunately, I may or may not have punched a senior within three minutes of being in school and got suspended for a few days. It's good to see you and your pretty face again though." Madeline rolls her eyes and the lift doors open behind them. He glides into it and winks at Madeline as he says.  
"Enjoy the rest of the tour." Madeline looks back at Peter, who is now sad, potential jealousy? Madeline would pick him over Harry any day, Ned just looks at her with a smirk on his face.  
"Shut up, let's get some pizza."

They walk to the pizza place and Madeline asks Peter how he knows Harry. He tells her about how his parents were scientists at Oscorp and how he met Harry when he was younger. They have been friends ever since but they grew apart as they got older due to Harry going to private school.

They take their seats by the window and look through the menu.  
"Hiwiann pizza!"  
"Oh my god, yes!" Madeline responds to Ned, they agree to get one medium Hiwiann pizza to share among themselves along with glasses of cola.   
"So, Maddie, are you enjoying your time at Midtown tech?" She nods her head as she takes a sip from her glass.  
"Oh, definitely. It's a great school and I have made great friends." She smiles at the two of them as they smile to themselves. Their pizza is brought to them and they share the slices out equally among themselves, they eat the pizza and laugh as they tell funny stories from our childhood.

"So you were at the Expo when it blew up?" Peter puts his glass down as he nods his head.  
"Yep. I lost Aunt May in the crowd and approached one of the robots with a plastic Iron Man helmet on and a fake gauntlet too. I raised my arm and Iron Man flew down, shot the robot before telling me 'Good job, kid.' and flying away again." The group continues to talk about their childhoods but Peter grows quieter.

Madeline notices Peter seems to be getting paler by the minute and sweat has started to build on his brow.  
"Peter? Are you alright?" He shakes his head before getting up.  
"I'm going to the bathroom." He walks away to the toilets and locks himself in, Madeline brushes it off as being nothing but maybe food poisoning. It doesn't usually come on this quickly, however.

Minutes pass, Ned and Madeline start to grow worried, they are meant to be back in the Oscorp facility in twenty minutes. Madeline gets her money out of her bag and pays for her share of the pizza, Ned covers his and Peters as they don't want to take money from him without telling him about it. Madeline gets up and walk to the toilet door and start knocking on it.  
"Peter, are you alright?"  
No response.  
"Peter? This isn't funny."  
Nothing.  
"Peter?" She turns to Ned who looks just as worried as she is. When an idea hits her.  
"Go and see if the manager has a key." Ned nods and walks away, Madeline waits patiently for him to return. He does and with a key, thank god, Madeline unlocks the door as fast as he can.

The door swings open and Peter is on the floor, pale as can be and covered in sweat and his limbs are jerking in random motions.  
"Peter!" Madeline runs to his side and rolls him over so she can see his face, his breathing is erratic. Madeline presses two fingers against his neck and she can feel his even more erratic heartbeat. She gently lays his head in her lap and strokes his hair with her hand to calm him down. Pulling her phone from her pocket, she goes to call an ambulance but Peter grabs her wrist.  
"No, I'm - I'm okay." Madeline stares at him in disbelief.   
"You passed out and weren't breathing properly. I am calling an ambulance for you." He shakes his head and tries to stand.  
"No, no, no. You should not stand up, you might collapse again." He uses the sink and walls to balance himself.  
"I'll be fine, I just need to go home." He blinks a few times and rubs his eyes, Madeline puts his arm around her shoulder and lets him use her as a crutch. She doesn't think he even notices as he's basically falling asleep on her shoulder.  
"Fine but I am going to make sure you get there. Will your Aunt and Uncle be home?" He shakes his head.  
"My Aunt will be back at like four, I'll be fine by myself." Madeline shakes her head as they walk out the toilet. He balances on the doorframe as Ned gets their bags for them, Madeline boosts him up slightly as they walk through the front doors. Ned holds them open for them as Peter stumbles through them.  
"Ned, I'm going to take Peter home and watch over him, can you tell Mr Harrington what has happened?" Ned nods his head as Madeline helps Peter lean against a wall, she takes her's and Peter's bags from Ned before picking Peter back up again.

* * *

Madeline opens Peter's apartment with his keys before helping into the apartment. He still stumbles and trips as he walks, she manages to get his room but not before he falls face first onto his bed.

Madeline rolls her eyes as a gentle snore emerges from Peter, she drops her bag down beside his bed as he gets comfy on it. She picks up his bag from the corridor and takes it into his room for him. Madeline places it down on the side of his bed before dragging his duvet out from underneath him. She touches Peter's forehead, he's extremely cold now. What the hell is happening to him? She pulls the duvet over him to try and warm him up a bit. Madeline opens her bag and grabs a leaflet they were given today and writes a small message on the back of it.

'Peter passed out in the toilets, his breathing/heart rate was erratic. I don't know what caused it but I brought him back shortly after it happened. Madeline'

She leaves her number on the note and the note on the coffee table in sight, she walks back into his bedroom and grabs her bag. She slings it over her shoulder and turns to walk away. She stops as something grabs my wrist, she turns back and sees Peter has subconsciously grabbed her wrist. She can hear him mumbling something, Madeline leans a little closer to his face so she can hear.  
"Stay..." She smiles a little and slips her bag off, he tugs on her wrist and makes her sit next to the bed. She can feel his breath tickling her neck as he sleeps, she can't help but smile at how cute his tiny snore is. She feels at peace when she is with him and creeped out when with Harry. It's weird.


	6. Chapter 6

8 DAYS LATER (Wednesday)

It's been a week since, well, whatever happened with Peter happened, Madeline hasn't seen him all week. She has been texting him every day and his Aunt dropped off some secret photos she took of the pair asleep on his bed together. He doesn't know about them and Madeline hasn't told him about them, the background on the lock screen of her phone is a really zoomed in photo of his sleeping face. She giggles at it every time she sees it, it's such a cute photo.

She opens the wardrobe and pulls out a yellow mid-length shirt and a pair of jeans with roses embroidered on the left leg and holes at the knees. She puts them on and put a black leather jacket and her key charm necklace, she puts her black high tops last. She only has ten minutes till she has to leave, she still hasn't eaten breakfast.

She has put on almost a kilogram since the Avengers took her in but according to Doctor Cho, it simply isn't enough. If she eats too much she will end up being sick, last week, after she had come back from Peter's she threw up. Madeline ate way too much for dinner and way too many crisps whilst watching the film. She is also training with Natasha, she is teaching her how to punch, kick and a few simple martial arts moves. She says Madeline am learning very quickly for someone my age, she is also telling her about different healthy diets so Madeline can gain weight whilst training.

Steve has visited Madeline four times in the past week, he asked about school and friends. She told him about MJ, Ned and Peter, which, she regrets as he is now watching her every move with him. He saw the photos of Peter and her together. Before anything could be could be said or done, he was making her do tests, specifically, a pregnancy test. Tony, Sam and Wanda found it hilarious, Natasha thought he was overreacting (which he was) and Vision didn't understand why Steve was so worried. He took Madeline to the cinema to see The 5th Wave as she really wanted to see it after she read the book, Madeline enjoyed it.

She has also been using some of the new moves Nat has taught her to take anyone down in the streets like before. Which she has been doing, she doesn't go any further than two blocks but she has helped out five people with being mugged. It feels good to help others and Madeline sees where she gets from, considering who her father is.

Madeline managed to convince Tony to get her a sewing machine and some designing software on the laptop he got her. She told him it was for school and that she wants to go into the textiles industry, bullshit. She really wants it so she can make herself a mask in case she should need to kickass like that in public again.

She grabs an apple as she walks out the door, Madeline plug her headphones in and clicks play on Panic! At the Disco's LA Devotee. Peter, Ned and MJ have given her a lot of guidance in music. Her favourite bands are Panic! At the Disco, Fall Out Boy, Twenty One Pilots, Years and Years, Chainsmokers, McFly, Busted, McBusted, blah blah blah. Madeline's favourite singers are Demi Lovato, Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande. There are a few other singers and bands spotted throughout her playlists and she is a sucker for a good musical, especially Disney musicals. her two favourites are Tangled and The Princess and the Frog, she could watch them on repeat for hours.

She hops up the steps of the school and squeezes her way into the already crowded corridor.   
She gently pushes past people, apologising as she goes until she gets to her locker.

Madeline puts the combination in, which she has now basically memorised, swing the door open and prepares herself for the day. Physically and mentally.  
"Hey..." Madeline turns around to meet the dark hazelnut eyes of none other than Peter. She can't help but smile at him, he looks a lot better than he did last week, the colour has returned to his cheeks. He looks genuinely happier than he did in the bathroom that day.  
"Hey, I didn't think you were going to be in today. How are you feeling?" He nods his head before taking a deep breath.  
"Yeah..better than last week. Aunt May reckons it was just food poisoning or something. Thank you by the way. For... staying with me..." Madeline smiles at him as he rubs the back of his neck awkwardly.  
"It's fine. You asked me to, so, I stayed..." He goes a little red in the face at this.  
"I have a binder with a shit ton of notes from the classes we are in together that I took for you... so you wouldn't - you know - be behind anything in class." Madeline feels herself go a little red for some reason. She opens her bag to get it before realising she has left it at home.  
"Crap. I left it at home, sorry, I'll give it to you tomorrow. For today though, I'll help you as much as I can." He smiles at her, he's been gazing at her for quite some time now and just hasn't realised. She closes her locker door and they walk down the hall together to their first class.

* * *

"Guys, have you seen the new spider-guy on Youtube?" Madeline shakes her head as she takes a seat next to Ned, he pulls up a video on his phone. Madeline watches as someone in a red hoodie approaches a thief in a small grocery store, the sleeves are missing from hoodie to reveal a blue long sleeve shirt of some kind. The thief goes to punch this Spider-person but he just catches it and throws the thief across the room, he picks up the stolen goods and replaces them in the store. He comes out of the store and shoots something from his wrist before being propelled into the air.   
"Spiderman." Both Ned and Madeline turn to Peter in confusion.  
"That's what he is called, Spiderman - apparently, that's what I have heard..." His words trail off a little as he eats his lunch.  
"Then there's that girl from last week, she isn't as active as Spiderman though. She's pretty badass apparently, from the reports I have read."   
"Do you Google this stuff?" Ned confidently nods his head as he pulls his lunch box out, Madeline simply rolls her eyes at him and eats her lunch.

* * *

The day has been a long one, with Flash trying to torment Peter repeatedly and Peter being behind in class work. It's been a difficult one.

Madeline walks out the doors of the train and takes her usual route home, she has memorised it and found a quicker way to get there. She passes people rushing home or to doctor's appointments or to pick up kids. Kids. She misses them dearly, she wants to go and see them but Steve says that it's too dangerous after he showed up out of the blue. She watches as a child with a plastic Captain America shield runs by shortly followed by another child with fake large green fists on.

She jogs up the steps of her apartment building, pulling her keys from the front of her bag. Smiling at the women on the front desk, she just catches the lift before the doors close. She unlocks her phone and sees she has a text.

TONY STARK  
Hey, I need to speak with you.   
Read 15:11

The doors of the lift open and she walks to her apartment door.  
"Hey..." Madeline jumps a few inches back and turns, ready to fight anyone, only to see Tony leaning against the wall next to the lift doors.  
"What are you doing here? And what do you need to speak to me about?" He pushes off of the wall and walks to her apartment door, which opens for him.   
"Going somewhere nice are we?"   
"Actually, just come back from an event. That's why I am here. As the newest recruit, it is a tradition that I invite you to the Stark ball."  
"Ball? As in dancing and dresses." Madeline walks into her apartment behind Tony as he goes straight to the fridge.  
"It's nothing big, just some big names in the science world, you won't have to meet them though." She places her bag down on the table and starts sorting through her homework and books.  
"When is this event? What sort of event is it, casual, formal?"  
"Formal and it's Friday, short notice I know but Steve has said yes and Wanda would like to take you dress shopping."   
"I don't do dresses." He smirks and leans against one of the kitchen countertops.  
"Go shopping with Wanda and maybe, just maybe you'll find something you'll like,"He walks to the door and opens it before turning back to me.   
"You have no choice in this by the way."  
"What?" Madeline gives up and walks to her room.

She picks up the second book in the Chaos Walking series, The Ask and the Answer. She is lucky as she has a long window sill she can sit in, Madeline has thrown a few pillows on there so she can lean against the wall.

Sitting down, she watches as the sun get further away from her and the people pass the lifeless buildings. She looks out, over the building tops when she spots something, someone. She squints a little and realises about two blocks down from me Spiderman is practising his flips and what not.

She sits and watches him for five minutes before sirens blare past him and he, well, swings into action. She opens her book and continues reading.

* * *

The bell goes for the end of the day and Madeline walks with MJ to their lockers.  
"Hey, Peter and Ned are going to continue with the Lego Death Star, you joining them?"  
"I can't. I'm shopping tonight." MJ stops dead in her tracks and eyes Madeline up for a moment.  
"You hate shopping." She puts a lot of emphasis on the word 'hate', Madeline shrugs her shoulders a little as they get to her locker.  
"Yeah, well, it's not like I could say no to him." MJ's head snaps around from her locker with an excited look on her face.  
"Him...?"  
"Uhg... I was invited to some special event, lots of big science people will be going-"  
"Oh. My. God. You got invited to yearly Stark Ball you are so lucky. Only the very best scientists get an invite to that. Does Peter know?" Madeline shakes her head and hangs her head in shame.  
"No, it's bit weird though. Me going to such a prestigious ball, he's been acting strange lately."  
"Well, he's a bit strange, I guess I'll see you tomorrow, I want you to tell me all about it."  
"Goodbye." Madeline waves at her as she walks away.

* * *

"Hey, Wanda. I just need to grab my money and then we can go." Madeline gestures to the lifts as she walks over to them whilst trying to pull her keys from her bag. She grabs Madeline's arm gently.  
"It's okay, Tony's covering it." Madeline shakes her head.  
"No, I should pay, it's going to be my outfit after all-"  
"It's okay, really, he can cover it." Madeline nods her head, Wanda walks her outside and into a black SUV with tinted windows.

Madeline gets in the car and sees she has her own personal driver, Wanda gets in the other side of the car and Madeline pulls her seat belt across herself. The driver and Wanda share a look before the car starts moving, it's as if he read Wanda's mind. Or she read his.  
"So, what kind of dress are you looking to get?" Madeline gives her a stern look in response.  
"I don't do dresses." She just smirks at her.  
"Why? Did something happen the last time you wore a dress?"  
"No, no, no. Dresses are meant to look elegant, graceful and beautiful on the wearer but I am not elegant, graceful or remotely pretty." Madeline plays with the charm on her necklace.  
"You're right, you're not pretty. You are absolutely gorgeous and any guy who will see you in a dress will instantly fall in love with you. When we buy you a dress-"  
"If. If I get a dress." She playfully rolls his eyes at her.  
"If we buy you a dress you are going to look like a goddamn Disney princess." Madeline giggle at her words, she'd love to look like a princess but that's just not who she is.   
"Who's your favourite Disney princess?" Madeline thinks this over for a moment.  
"Repunzle from Tangled, I like her hair after it had flowers put in it and was in the massive braid. She just a badass female character, using a frying pan as a weapon." She laughs for a moment.  
"What's not to love, right?" Madeline laughs at her.  
"Exactly." The car comes to a stop and Madeline looks out the window to see an expensive looking dress shop in front of her. She turns to Wanda and he just smiles and shrugs her shoulders.  
"What? This was not my choice, I said you'd look like a Disney princess and these guys have designed and made some of the dresses the princesses wear in Disneyland Paris." They get out of the car and Madeline can't help but feel a little nervous.  
A small bell ding as Wanda opens the door and a woman quickly approaches them. She speaks with Wanda for a moment before looking at me. Madeline follows her as they walk toward the dressing rooms. She assumes she is to be measured so she can look for an outfit, Madeline steps up onto the podium and is instantly surrounded by women with tape measures.

After five or so minutes of being repeatedly measured, Madeline finally able to go back to Wanda. She hopes she will help her pick out an outfit, although it is now starting to dawn on her that this is a dress shop. There are small placards on the walls telling Madeline about the history of dresses, dressmaking and there's even on measuring people. She walks down the small, dark red corridor only to be stopped by the shopping attendant. She ushers Madeline toward an empty changing room.  
"Don't I have to pick a dress first?"   
"Miss Maximoff is looking for one that she thinks will suit you in your size." She does the equivalent of slamming a door in Madeline's face by drawing the curtains across in her face. Madeline sits on a small padded, wooden bar and waits for her to return. Which, as it would happen, didn't take that long, she brings in a long dress in but it has a stain-cover on it so Madeline can't see it.  
"Miss Maximoff would like you to try it on but not allow you to see it." She pulls a black blindfold from her pocket and makes Madeline put it over her eyes.

* * *

After almost an hour of debating with herself and walking back and forth from the train station over whether or not to tell Peter about going to the ball, Madeline decides to tell him. Luckily she can do it in person as Peter has robotics lab after school, she skips down the corridor toward the lab.

Just as she goes to open the door, Ned appears in front of Peter.  
"Hey, Maddie."  
"Hey. Peter, may I speak with you?" Peter nods his head and Ned walks away, saying goodbye to the both of them as he goes. Peter smiles at Madeline and she already feels more comfortable telling him about the ball.  
"What's up?"  
"Well, t-" Peter's phone rings in his pocket and he grows angry at however is calling.   
"Sorry, I have to take this. Uncle Ben and I fell out this morning and I wasn't meant to go to robotics. He does my head in sometimes."  
"It's fine, my thing can wait. I actually have to go, I have plans to binge watch Netflix with... my dad. I'll see you on Monday." He nods his head and she walks away, ashamed that she didn't tell him. She doesn't think it would have been fair for her to tell him right now though, not with whatever is happening between his Uncle and him. Madeline checks the time, '16:03', she only has two hours until Wanda picks her up.

Wanda wouldn't let Madeline see the dress and she took it with her in a cover so Madeline couldn't see it. Shee chose it out and saw Madeline in it so it must look at least decent on her. She can't help but worry about what to do with her hair or makeup, not that she has any at her apartment. 

* * *

The pair arrive at the Avengers' tower, Tony may be selling it but not everything has been moved out of the building yet. Madeline follows Wanda into a room with a makeup table with some different hair products and tools scattered around. Madeline gives her a look of confusion and she just gives her a smirk.

"We are going to do your hair and makeup for you, then you'll put on the dress and we'll give you some accessories but you won't be able to see any of it until we leave tonight." Madeline takes a seat in front of the table, she is joined by two women who start on her hair and makeup.

* * *

After what felt like an eternity sat in the makeup chair, not having a clue as to what is being put on my face, Madeline was finally freed. Only to have another blindfold put across her face to conceal the dress she has to wear tonight.

Madeline is guided into the hallway where she can hear a couple of people chatting a little. She is guided to one spot and she feels someone's hand on her shoulder, their touch sends a shiver down her spine as they are very cold.  
"You may remove the mask." She slowly raises her hand and unties the mask and slowly pulls it off, at first she is blinded by white light but then, then she sees it.

A beautiful, knee-length dark green dress and a few gems sewn and lace sewn into the top half. She has some dark red lipstick on, nude eyeshadow with a small amount of eyeliner and they covered up her already fading bruise. The sides of her hair have been braided and tied at the back as a ponytail. Madeline is wearing a pair of plain black flats on her feet with her usual key charm necklace.

Madeline is wearing a pair of plain black flats on her feet with her usual key charm necklace  
She fluffs the skirt a little bit and notices Wanda is holding a black clutch bag.  
"Here is your clutch bag for your phone." Slipping her phone into the clutch bag she feels like a Disney princess.

Wanda is wearing a pair of jeans and a hoodie, Madeline turns and give her a questionable look.  
"Where's your dress?" She laughs a little.  
"Oh, I'm not going. Newest recruit has to go, I went last year. It's your turn this year. Have fun."   
"Why do I feel like you meant that last part sarcastically?" She laughs and guides Madeline into the lift.

When the doors open, there are multiple reporters with cameras waiting to take photos. Madeline feels her breath catch in her throat, Tony suddenly appears from nowhere.  
"Come with me if you don't want your photo taken." Madeline jumps at the opportunity and follows Tony until they reach the main living room. It is already packed with scientists and celebrities, none of whom Madeline recognises.  
"Tonight is going to be a long night..." She mumbles to herself.  
"Oh, I'm counting on it." She turns around and meet Harry's eyes which give her a look all over.


	7. Chapter 7

The party is going well, she has mostly spent it on her own or with Harry, she hasn't checked her phone all night. It turns out Harry chose her outfit out for her, he asked Tony and Wanda to lie to her about it. She is not pissed at him, she is happy that he did this but slightly uncomfortable with the looks he is giving her. She has never felt so confident and creeped out in her entire life.

"Hey, you alright?" She turns to her left to meet Harry's unsettling eyes.  
"Yes, thank you, tonight is amazing." He takes Madeline by the arm which, catches her by surprise, and walks her into a lift.  
"I want to show you something."

He takes her to the roof, you can see the whole of the city from up there.  
"Harry, this is... incredible." He watches as Madeline watches the city, still bursting with life, go past from a bird's eye view.  
"I sometimes go up to the roof of the Oscorp tower to clear my head, it's quite the view. It never gets old. I have some news for you." Madeline looks at him to see what he is going to say.  
"As of Monday, I am starting at Midtown. Again."  
"Really?"  
"Yep, I sort of got kicked out of my last school and then I punched a senior but I coming back."  
"Awesome." Madeline stares across the city, the first thing popping into her mind is Peter. Maybe she should call him? Tell him where she is? She decides to pull her phone from her bag to take some photos. Her mood instantly drops when she sees multiple missed calls and texts from Peter, she opens all the texts messages first from about an hour or so ago.

Peter 📸   
Hey, do you mind if I come around to your place? The argument between Ben and I got a little out of hand.  
Read 21:33

Madeline?  
Read 21:33

I am outside your place now...  
Read 21:33

Please?  
Read 21:33

Nevermind then...  
Read 21:33

She opens the voicemail messages from a number she doesn't recognise.

"Hi, Madeline. It's Aunt May here, have you see Peter? He went missing about an hour or so ago. Uncle Ben is out looking for him now but we haven't found him yet. Please call me if you see him."

Madeline can't help but grow worried about Peter, with all the crime that goes on in this city and he's out by himself. She turns to Harry and sees he is worried because she is worried, he strokes some hair that has come lose out of her face. His touch makes her shudder, she can't tell why though, he just makes her feel uncomfortable.  
"I'm sorry, I have to go. It's an emergency, I really enjoyed tonight though." She rushes back inside and takes the lift to the bottom floor, Harry is hot on her heels after her.

Madeline squeezes her way through the crowd of reporters out front, each one of them pushing a microphone into her face, asking her who she is and where she's going. Harry made sure she got through the crowd with too many pictures being taken.

Madeline manages to run about two blocks towards the nearest train station before she has to stop to catch her breath.

She slowly makes her way down towards the train station, keeping an eye out for him and calling him but to only get to voicemail. He must have turned his phone off so no one could bother him.   
"Peter! Peter!" She screams, slightly in hopes he will answer her, but nothing for anywhere. She tries to keep her hopes up about finding him but they are slowly fading as the night gets later.

* * *

She knocks on Peter's apartment door, May opens the door and she can see she has been crying. A lot. She pushes up her glasses up her nose a little and smiles at me.  
"Nothing?" She just shakes her head at Madeline.  
"I'm going to go look for him."   
"No, no, no. You should not be out this late by yourself."  
"Peter was outside my place about an hour ago but because I didn't tell him I was at some stupid party with Harry Osborn - he didn't know I wouldn't be there for him. I have to help look for him." May nods her head and Madeline walks back into the lift, just as the doors close she sees May give her a comforting smile.

She walks out to the streets and just starting walking and praying Madeline will find Peter. It doesn't take her long before she sees him heading her way. She feels relief wash over her as she walks toward him.  
"Peter! We are so worried about you-" He scoffs at her, he is holding a cartoon of banana milk in one hand.  
"You were worried about me? You lied to me, you told me you had a 'father-daughter dinner date' with your dad tonight. When you were actually off to some ball in a beautiful dress with Harry Osborn." She feels tears well up in her eyes as he says this, she knows she lied to him but she didn't want to tell him something that might have upset him even more than he already was.

"Hey! Stop him!" She looks down the street at a small store and sees a guy stealing cash. Someone runs straight into him and tries to fight him. Peter simply turns back and makes eye contact with the shopkeeper.  
"Not my problem. You more worried about a petty crime, then you are me." Peter walks away but quickly stops when there's a loud boom. Madeline looks across the street and sees the thief has a gun and has just shot someone. She runs across the street, she can already see they are losing an awful of blood. She pulls my phone out of my bag and calls for an ambulance.   
"Hi, I need an ambulance. Someone has been shot - Ben?" As she gets closer she realises it is, in fact, Uncle Ben who has been shot.  
"Oh my god. Ben - yeah, he's been shot once but is losing a lot of blood." Madeline gives the name of the street they are on to the operator and hangs up.  
"PETER! PETER!" She yells down the street in hopes of Peter coming down the street to help. He runs across the street to her and just stares at the sight in front of him.  
"B-Ben?" He crouches down beside Ben to try and comfort him.  
"I've called an ambulance, they are on their way here now. You're going to be fine." She can feel the life draining from his body as they talk. Peter just holds Ben's hand, they are both getting blood on their clothes. Madeline doesn't really care though, it's only a stupid dress, it can be replaced or washed.

She tries to apply pressure to wound but nothing seems to be working, her hands and upper arms are now just dripping with blood.

The next ten minutes seem to go by so quickly, the ambulance arrived but it was too late. Ben was gone and there is nothing Peter or Madeline could do about it. No matter how much Peter screamed for him to come back, she hugged Peter around the neck and just let him cry and scream into her shoulder. She knows this is going to be hard for him, it always is when you lose a loved one, but she just doesn't know how else to comfort him. They sit there until the police arrive to ask them questions and take them home.

Madeline decides to go with Peter back to his apartment to tell May what has happened. She and Peter hug and cry together whilst Madeline tries to clean herself up, she can't help but cry whilst they cry.

Peter excuses himself from the room and slams his bedroom door. Madeline looks at May and she signals for her to follow him, she hesitates for a moment before knocking on the door. Peter opens it and he is trying to hide the fact he is crying. He avoids making eye contact with her so she just pulls him into my chest for a hug, he breaks down and slips his arms around her neck. She gently rubs his back to comfort him, he says something into her chest but she can't hear what.  
"What?" He fully lifts his head up to her.  
"Can... can you stay... stay for the night? I don't want to be alone..." I look at him with slight confusion.  
"What about your aunt? You won't be alone but if you want me to, I will stay."   
"She'll just lock herself away for the next week or so... you can borrow one of my shirts and use a pair of boxers as shorts or something." Madeline nods her head and he collects the clothes for her, he grabs her one of his white and black plaid shirts and a pair of plain black boxers. She takes them off of him and he shows her the bathroom.  
"I'm going to tell May you're staying for the night." Madeline nods and closes the door, god knows what she is meant to do with the dress for the night. She thinks it would be best if she throws it out, to respect the fact he died just minutes before.

That's an image Madeline will never get out of her head, Ben lying there lifeless with Peter screaming at him. The images pop back into her head as she drops the dress onto the floor and picks up Peter's shirt, it has a weirdly comforting smell to it, she buttons up the front of it. She slips the boxers on and notices bin liners on the counter. Madeline grabs the dress and stuffs it into the bag carelessly before tying the tightest knot she can in the top of it. She picks it up and walks back to Peter's room, he's sat up, on his bed, tissues in his hands and tear lines staining his face. Dropping the bag out of sight, Madeline joins him on his bed and he puts his head on her chest as she fiddles with his hair. It's surprisingly soft and nice to play with, he just sniffs ever now and then, wiping his face of tears. He looks up at her.  
"Can you sing?"  
"Got a song in mind?"  
"A soft song." She thinks it over for a moment before deciding on Photograph by Ed Sheeran.  
"So you can keep me, inside the pocket of your ripped jeans,  
Holding me closer 'til our eyes meet,  
You won't ever be alone,  
And if you hurt me,  
That's okay baby, only words bleed,  
Inside these pages you just hold me,  
And I won't ever let you go..." Before Madeline can even finish the first chorus, Peter starts emitting little snores like he did a week or so ago. She can't help but smile at his sleeping face. Madeline closes her eyes and soon fades into darkness.

* * *

Madeline wakes up at eight thirty, she looks down to see Peter still asleep on her chest. She smiles as she listens to his heavy breathing, Madeline slips out from underneath him and walks into the kitchen to find no Aunt May. She must still be asleep, Madeline still hasn't eaten since last night. She doesn't want to go through their cupboards, that would just be rude. She spots some eggs on one of the countertops and a frying pan drying beside the sink. She grabs both of them and decides to make eggs for all of them, she'll only make a few as she doesn't know if everyone likes them.

She dishes up a plate of eggs for Peter and takes it into his room, she places them down on the only clean spot on his desk. He has his head on his pillow, snoring a little, just how she left him. She walks up beside him and puts her hand on his shoulder, she starts to gently shake him.  
"Peter... Peter, I made eggs for you..." He groans a little as he wakes up, he rubs his eyes and runs a hand through his hair. He sits up fully and Madeline sees just how red and puffy his eyes are from crying.  
"Those smell good." She hands him the plate, knife and fork, he digs into them straight away.  
"How do you make such good eggs?"  
"I don't know, it just comes to me naturally I guess." Madeline sits next to him on the bed and just takes in the view from his window. It's a small but quiet street, it looks as if nothing happens around here, just yelling and arguments.

* * *

"I should get going, my dad will be wondering where I am." Madeline gestures to the front door as she grabs the bag from last night and heads toward the door.  
"Here, you should borrow these, you shouldn't really walk back in a pair of my boxers." She looks down at herself and realises she still hasn't changed out of Peter's shirt or boxers. He hands me a pair of jeans, we are basically the same the size so they'll probably fit me.  
"Thanks." She takes them off of him and walks into the bathroom. She slips off his boxers and put the jeans on, as she walks back to his room she spots a photo on the floor, turned so it's facing the wall. Madeline picks it up and turns it over, she sees a group of people, Uncle Ben and Aunt are stood together with a young looking Peter in the middle. Madeline assumes the couple next to Peter are his parents, she puts the photo back against the wall and walks to Peter's room. She hands the pair of boxers to him.

"I'll give you the shirt back at some point." He just shakes his head.  
"Nah, you can keep it. It looks good on you." She smiles at his compliment and grabs the rest of her stuff and heads for the door. She opens the front door but turns back just before leaving.  
"Do you want to do something tomorrow?" Peter nods his head, she smiles at him and she sees a slight smile on his face.  
"I'll text you later?" He nods again and Madeline walks out the door. She dumps the dress down the trash chute, out of sight, out of mind. Hopefully. Steve is probably waiting for her back at the apartment, he's going to be pissed at me.

* * *

"Steve?" She closes the door behind her and sees a sleeping Steve on the couch, he must have been waiting for her all night. She goes into her room and grabs a spare blanket before throwing it over him, he groans a little but gets comfy.

Madeline plods back to her room and kicks her shoes off before climbing into bed, she slips the jeans off and just let herself rest for a little bit. She needs time alone to think over the events of last night, she doesn't know how to help him. She has never been in this situation before. Madeline rolls over so she is looking out of the window, she wonders where Spiderman is, probably helping people.

"Kid?" She rolls over to face the door and sees Steve sticking his head around the door.  
"Are you alright?" She shrugs her shoulders a little.  
"Stark told me about what happened last night, he had someone follow you to make sure you were okay. Can I get you anything?" She shakes her head.  
"I just need time to think it over. I want to help him, I just don't know how to." Steve nods his head in understanding and leaves her be.

* * *

Two weeks have past and no one has seen Peter, he hasn't been to school, he's not answering calls or texts and no one answers the door when we knock. Madeline texts him every so often to tell him what has been happening, what he missed at school and she tried to invite him to the cinema to see The 5th Wave as she enjoyed it but got no reply. Harry has started at Midtown high and they are now really good friends, he misses Peter just as much as she does, even he can't get through to Peter. The last time Madeline saw Peter was the Sunday after it happened, a lot happened that day alone.

Peter told her the full events of that night. About how he and Uncle Ben fell out after school and he stormed off, not telling them where he was going and ignoring all calls and texts he got. He told her about how he went to her apartment and she wasn't there for him, how she had gone to some stupid party instead of being there for my friend. He told her about how he just wandered the streets for a bit until he went into a store to get a drink. The carton of banana milk. About how he didn't have enough change for it, he was two cents off and when he tried to negotiate with the shopkeeper, he simply replied with, 'Not my problem'. It made Madeline think back to him turning back to the shopkeeper when he yelled for help and he simply said 'Not my problem.'. He told her about how it is, supposedly, 'all my fault', she tried to tell him otherwise but he just wouldn't listen. He's been avoiding Ned and her all week, Aunt May hasn't spoken to either of us either and them just don't know what to do. They have been collecting notes from class for him, the binder Madeline has for him is almost full of notes. She misses his presence in class and how he could brighten up any room he was in.

In other news, Spiderman is back and in a bigger way, he is reportedly out all night stopping any crime in the Queens area he can find. It's admirable, he goes out of his way to help stop crime in the city, he makes Madeline feel bad about being trained and not using any of it.

She has developed a fully functional suit for herself, completely bulletproof with an emergency contact built in, so if she gets shot. Steve will be alerted and be able to find her wherever she is. She has given it some thought, she just doesn't know if she is ready for that kind of thing.

Madeline sits on the window sill of her window and watches the city tick by below her. If it keeps her mind off of him for now, then so be it. The sun is slowly setting, closing off another lifeless Saturday in New York City. Madeline guesses the only thing that came out of it was training with Nat and Wanda.

THUD  
"Ow. Dammit..." Madeline stands up straight and walks over to the doors that lead to the balcony. She has been spending more time out their lately as it is getting closer to summer. She grabs the nearest book she can find, hardback copy of Under the Dome by Stephen King, extremely heavy and thick. She opens the doors and steps out, expecting it to be some kind of criminal, with her arms raised in defence. Only to be faced with camera lenses that she instantly recognises from a Youtube video Ned showed me.  
"Spiderman?" She lowers her arms from the defensive position they are in.   
"Hi, sorry for crashing onto your balcony like this but - arrh!" He falls to the floor in pain, he is clutching his left side. He removes his hand and Madeline sees his glove stained with blood.  
"Oh god. Come inside, I'll help you with that." He shakes his head and tries to stand again but just groans before giving in. Madeline helps him inside her apartment and sets him down on the bed.  
"This is going to sound odd but... I need you to remove your shirt so I can clean the wound." Madeline's face grows hot at the thought of seeing Spiderman shirtless. He takes a moment, laughing nervously for a moment before removing the shirt and hoodie. Leaving the mask on to protect his identity. Shes preps a small amount of medical equipment for whatever injuries he may have.

She can't help but stare as it turns out he is seriously ripped, it is as if he abs were chiselled Thor himself. She walks over with some rubbing alcohol and bandages, she sees he has taken a bullet. Luckily for him, it's only skin deep, missing anything valuable.  
"You're lucky, it's only skin deep. No need for stitches, it missed anything valuable." Madeline starts to apply rubbing alcohol and he winces in pain.  
"Sorry..." She continues to wipe the area clean as he just stares at her. Out the corner of her eye, she sees him tilt his head in a questionable way, Madeline looks up at the camera lens.  
"What? Is there something on my face?" He just continues to stare with an unreadable look as his mask covers his whole face.  
"You're not sleeping properly..." Is all he mumbles, Madeline grows a little uncomfortable at his comment.  
"Yeah, just stress and... I'm sorry, you don't want to hear my sob story..." She shakes her head, sending strands of hair in front of her face. She clears up the bloodied tissues and cotton wool and gets ready to bandage him up.  
"I do want to know. What's with the binder over there?" He points to the binder that is sat on the vanity, Madeline feels sad at the thought of Peter.   
"It's nothing, just some notes for a friend. He hasn't been in school for two weeks. His uncle recently died and I want and try to be there for him but I don't know how to help him. Not like it matters, he shut everyone out, I know he's grieving but even just a small text would be nice. Even if it was just an emoji or 'Hi', I'm being selfish. I haven't got a clue what it's like for him right now. He told me about how he believes it's his fault his uncle died but it's simply not true. Someone once told me: 'When something bad happens, you have three choices. You can either let it define you, let it destroy you or let it strengthen you.' and I think that'll stay with me forever. Sorry, I'm babbling, I'll shut up now." Madeline opens the white plastic wrapping from around the gauze, she gently presses the gauze against the wound, he moves his hand over it and holds it there for me.  
"No, no, I wanted to hear it, I mean you are kind enough to patch me up." Madeline gently wraps the fabric bandage around his torso, as she pulls it tighter, he winces a little.  
"Sorry, this should heal in a week or so." She cleans up all the bandage wrappers and the blood, as he gets dressed again. She notices he has dropped something on the floor, Madeline bends down and pick it up. It's a small glass tube with a wooden top, it looks as if it is meant to clip onto something, it's got some kind of weird fluid on the inside. Madeline slushes it around a little and see it is creating some kind of webbing.

"So, this is what you use to shoot webs? You know if you use a polycarbonate the webs would be stronger and lighter." He nods his head as he takes the tube out of Madeline's hands.  
"Yeah, thanks. I'll apply that to my next formula." He walks out the doors and steps up onto the barrier of the balcony. Madeline stands in the doorway, the gentle breeze blows her hair across her face.  
"Goodbye, Spiderman."   
"Goodbye, Ma-" He swings off before he can finish his sentence, Madeline watches as he disappears into the sunset. What was he going to say?


	8. Chapter 8

Madeline opens her locker like always and when she closes it again, like always, Harry is stood on the other side of the door waiting for her with his smile that seems to creep Madeline and only Madeline out.

"Hey," She says as she zips her bag back up again.  
"Hey, you. You look really nice in that outfit." He scans up and down her body with his eyes, Madeline can't help but tense up a little. She is wearing a red knitted crop top, been knitted so a flower is on show at the top of the neckline, a pair of skinny jeans, a black denim jacket and her usual key necklace. He smirks at her and takes a step closer, she looks into his eyes as his keep looking at her lips. Out the corner of her eye, she spots a locker being opened that hasn't opened in two weeks.  
"Peter?" He turns on his heels and smiles as he sees her walking up to him, Madeline engulfs him in a hug, he is a little surprised by it but hugs back.  
"It's good to see you."  
"Yeah, you too. Harry?" The pair pull apart and Madeline notices Peter wincing slightly and gripping his left side, Harry is looking a little sad for some reason but he instantly perks up when he approaches Peter.  
"It's good to see you out of your room for once." Peter laughs a little at Harry, he seems a hell of a lot happier than compared to two weeks ago. The bell echoes in the halls and the whole school walk away to their respective classes.

* * *

Madeline closes the apartment door behind her and leans against for a moment, everything hurts. She just had the living crap beaten out of her by Natasha, at least Steve held back a little, she went full postal. Madeline thought she was going kill her at one point, Madeline is getting better at the combat thing though.

Walking to her room and out onto the balcony, she takes a deep breath in, letting herself absorb the sounds and smells of the city. She finds the sound peaceful for some reason, the smell, on the other hand, is kind of disgusting.  
"Hey, you." Jumping a little at the new voice, Madeline looks around and see no one, she looks directly up and sees none other than Spiderman.  
"Are you spying on me?" He chuckles for a moment before lowering himself down a little so they are face to mask.   
"No, I just stopped a petty crime and got a punch to the face for it."   
"Does Spiderman want me to kiss it better?" Madeline says in a childish voice to mock him.  
"If you wouldn't mind, that would be very nice." He replies sarcastically, he lowers himself down and lands with a gentle thud on the balcony. She leans against the rail and let the wind blow her hair across her face. She looks out across the whole of Queens, just taking in some sunlight for once.  
"I'll get you an icepack." Madeline walks to the door frame but he stops her.  
"It's okay, it doesn't hurt that badly." Madeline really wants to take his mask off, she wants to know so badly who is underneath. She knows it would be an invasion of privacy but with a body like his underneath and an attitude toward the world she's never seen before, she wants to know.  
"Then why are you here?"   
"Because I wanted to see you, you have to be one of the prettiest and nicest girls I have ever met. You didn't hit me with that book, you could have let me bleed on your balcony but you didn't. You invited me in and helped me. Most would have just left me." He has her pinned against a wall, both arms either side of her head.  
"Wherever this confidence has come from, I like it and, for your information, I'm not like other people." Tucking some hair behind her left ear, clearly making Spiderman uncomfortable but in a good way, Madeline looks down at her feet to hide the fact that she is blushing and smirking, he puts his hand under her chin and pulls her head up. She bites her bottom and he goes to remove his mask.

"Hey, kid. I'm here for dinner." Madeline completely forgot she has dinner with Steve tonight.  
"Shit. You have to go." She starts pushing Spiderman toward the edge of the balcony, he stumbles a bit as he climbs over the edge.  
"Kid?"  
"Yeah, I'll be right there." She looks over the edge as Spiderman holds his grip on it.  
"I guess I'll see you - whenever, I see you again, Spidey-boy."   
"Yeah, goodbye M-"  
"Madeline?" Madeline runs into my room and opens a science textbook before laying on my bed.  
"Yes, come in." Steve opens the door and holds a plastic bag in front of his face.  
"I got your favourite sandwich from that deli you were telling me about." She smiles as she closes her textbook and gets up from her bed, following him to the kitchen, she checks and sees Spiderman has left.

* * *

She flops onto her bed, face first. She jumps up from her bed as sirens flash and blare past her window, she walks onto her balcony just in time to see Spiderman swing by. The flashing blue lights zoom down the street and towards a fire.

Everyone just goes about their normal evening, Madeline walks straight inside and gets changed. She forgets to close the doors to her balcony as she gets changed and hears something hit the balcony. Madeline sticks her head around the doors and sees Spiderman gripping his arm. Walking out to help him, Madeline forgets I am shirtless and in a sports bra.   
"Woah, what happened?" He looks at her before turning away.  
"Oh, I helped rescue some people from a burning building. Sorry, I don't mean to be pervy." He gestures to the fact that she is shirtless and blushes a little. She removes his hand from his arm and sees it is a second-degree burn through the hole burnt in his clothes.  
"It's a second-degree burn, you are very lucky it's not large. I'll get an ice bath and some cloth." She walks into her bedroom and cleans up her clothes a little before grabbing a shirt for herself. Madeline goes into the kitchen and opens the ice drawer in the freezer. She takes a few of the ice cubes and put them into an empty bowl, she fills the bowl with some cold water. Grabs a plain white cloth and dips one end of it into a bowl, I walk back into my room and see he has taken his shirt off.

Yet again Madeline is blushing at the sight of his abs, "damn he looks good. Stop it, I don't even know who this is, what if he's like forty?" Madeline places the bowl down on her vanity and gestures for him to sit in front of her. He does as he is told, Madeline takes the cloth and gently press it against the burn. She is taking the heat out of the burn and numbing the area. He winces at the touch of the cloth but settles down quickly.  
"Sorry."   
"It's fine, I tell you what isn't fine though." Madeline looks up at his camera lenses with a puzzled look.  
"What?"  
"I owe you... twice. This is the second time you have helped me and I should repay you." She shakes her head.  
"No, no, it's fine. I mean no one is else is going to do it, are they?" He seems a little taken back by this but nods along after a moment of, what Madeline assumes is realisation. She removes the cloth and rings it out of blood before dipping it back into the bowl of ice water and reapplying it.

"Your door is opening." Madeline gives Spiderman a confused looked before she hears.  
"Madeline?" In a very thick Sockvian accent. Wanda  
"Keep applying pressure." She mouths to him and he nods in understanding, she gets up and opens the bedroom door. Wanda is stood at the door waiting for her.  
"Hey, who gave you the key?" Madeline points to the key in her hand and she just smirks.  
"Who said you could have a boy in your room?" She can't help but bite her bottom lip.  
"It's Spiderman, he's injured and I'm just helping him. Please don't tell... you know who or the other one."  
"I'm guessing he doesn't know who you actually are then?" She shakes her head at Wanda.  
"Y'know, you should really check your phone more. I have completely blown the thing up with messages."  
"Yeah, I probably should check it. Anyway, why are you here?" Her smirk just grows wider.  
"Well, I have actually been here for over an hour. I watched him specifically chose to come to this apartment. Which means that he either knows you or you have helped him before, my money is on the second one."  
"He fell onto my balcony with a bullet wound. What was I supposed to do? Leave him out there?"  
"You are a good kid, I can see how you and Steve are related. See ya later." She walks back toward the door.  
"Wait, if you've been here for over an hour, what did you originally come here for?" She just winks at Madeline as she closes the door behind her.

Madeline walks back to her room and sees Spiderman is still holding the cloth to his arm.  
"You managed to burn your skin over the top of your bullet wound. I am going to have to put more bandages around your torso." She walks out of her room and into the bathroom, she grabs the extra first aid kit from the cupboard. She looks herself in the mirror and sees a little soot on her face, she quickly wipes it off. She goes back to her room and opens the packaging to get the bandages out, she removes the cloth from his arm and looks at the burn. It has shrunk in size dramatically, Madeline stares at it for a moment completely confused, the bullet wound is also missing.  
"Do you heal super fast or something?" He stands up to allow her to wrap the bandages around his arm and torso.  
"Yeah, something like that." She pulls the bandages tight and apologises as he winces in pain.

She helps him walk out to the balcony and they stand in awkward silence for a moment.   
"Well thank you for helping me. I owe you-"  
"No, no, no you don't-"  
"I'll buy you something, from your favourite store?"   
"No, it's okay. Really."   
"Delmar's Deli, have you ever been there?" She shakes her head.  
"Yeah, but you don't-"  
"I can tell you are a number five kinda girl, aren't you?" He climbs over the edge of the balcony and gets ready to swing away at any moment, Madeline nods her head.  
"How did you know?" She can practically feel him smirking at her through the mask.  
"Lucky guess, goodbye, Madeline." She watches as he swings into the horizon.  
"I'm in trouble," She whispers to herself.

* * *

Madeline opens her locker door and swaps books for the day, she has maths first and ends the day with chemistry, with Peter. She smiles at the thought of Peter and closes the locker door.  
"Hey."  
"JESUS!" She takes a step back as Flash leans against the locker next to hers.  
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."   
"What do you want, Flash?"   
"You are forgiven." Madeline looks at him weirdly.  
"For what?" She takes her water bottle out of her bag and starts to take sips.  
"Pinning me up against the lockers like that. I get why you did it, you wanted to show off your strength to me. I must admit, it was pretty impressive, which is why I have decided to go on a date with you." She almost chokes on her water as he says this, she swallows and coughs a little as she regains her breath.  
"I'm sorry. What?" He just chuckles a little.  
"We are going on a date, together." She shakes her head.  
"No, I don't think we are. I never agreed to go on a date with you and to be honest, I don't want to. You're not my type."   
"Oh, c'mon, sweetheart. I'm everyone's type and we will go on a date, eventually." He walks away before Madeline can respond, the bell goes for class and she walks to maths, completely cringing at his attempt to go out with her.

* * *

"Hey, Peter," Madeline says as he takes his seat next to her, she pushes her bag under the table and turns to look at him. He's got his grey hood up and she can instantly tell he is trying to hide something from her.  
"Hey." Is all he replies with without even glancing at her.  
"What's wrong?" He just seems to grow uncomfortable as she says this.  
"C'mon, you can tell me anything. You know that right." Madeline leans across the table a little but his hood conceals his face. He sighs and pulls his hood down. A massive black and blue bruise is around his bloodshot eye.  
"Jesus, what happened? Did you get beat up?" He just shakes his head as he gets his books out from his bag.  
"No, no. Aunt May hit me with a frying pan by mistake, she didn't know I was there and I didn't know she had a frying pan in her hand."  
"She must have one hell of a swing."   
"Yeah, she knocked me back a couple of feet. Hey, so... what are you up to this weekend?" Madeline feels a smile grow across her face as he scratches the back of his neck and avoids her eyes.  
"I don't think I'm doing anything, why?" She looks him directly in the face but he just avoids her eyes and stumbles on his words.  
"Well... I just - I mean - we got a flyer through the post about the Luna Park, it's along the coast in the lower end of Brooklyn. They have roller coasters, amusements, all that stuff. I was wondering if you wanted to go with... me? I mean you don't have to, you probably don't want to do you? It was a stupid idea-"  
"Peter, I'd love to go. I have never been to a theme park before, I don't really like the look of roller coasters though. I'll see what I am up to and text you later?"  
"Wait you want to go?" She nods her head, unable to remove the smile from her face.  
"Yes! I mean great, yeah, text me later."  
"Mr Parker, Miss Smith. Anything you'd like to share with the class." Both their heads snap to the front and they blush extremely hard.  
"Sorry." 

* * *

Madeline pulls multiple outfits from her wardrobe and lays them on her bed. It may be two days away but she wants to decide what to wear now so she doesn't have to worry about it tomorrow. 

She is smiling like an idiot at the thought of Peter and her hanging out together, just them. Does that make it a date? Did he invite her on a date? Is she overthinking this? The Boy Does Nothing by Alesha Dixon plays in the background off of her phone and she can't help but dance along a little as it plays. The flash on my phone goes off once, telling her she has received a text from someone. She picks up my phone and see it is from Steve.

STEVE RODGERS  
Yes, you can go to the theme park with your friend. Take some money and have fun. X  
Read 15:34

She opens her messages from Peter up and texts him with the good news.

Madeline 😎  
Good news, we are on for Saturday.  
Sent 15:36  
Read 15:37

She turns back to the wardrobe but stops when her eyes reach the sight of a familiar blue and red hero stood on her balcony. Madeline opens her double doors and he struts in.   
"Hey."   
"Hey, going somewhere?" Madeline nods my head and continues to pull some clothes from her wardrobe.  
"Shouldn't you be out there, doing your spidey thing?" He takes a seat on the edge of the bed and starts to look through my clothes.  
"There's nothing for me to do as of right now. You got a date?" Madeline stops for a moment.  
"I don't know if it's a date or not. He asked me to go to Luna Park with him earlier today but I don't know if it's a date to him or not, I don't know if I want it to be a date. No one has ever asked me out before."   
"Wait, seriously? No one, ever." Madeline shrugs my shoulders a little as she pulls the last top from my wardrobe.  
"I have basically been invisible my whole life but then this boy comes along and makes me feel special in a way I have never felt before. Sorry, I sound like a lovesick puppy or something."  
"It's cute, struggling to pick an outfit?"  
"Yeah, I just don't know what to wear?" Spiderman stands from her bed and looks at all the clothes spilt on the bed.  
"Well, it's meant to be warm on Saturday. So, I'd go with..." His sentence trails off as he scans over Madeline's clothes, he catches her staring and turns her to face the other way.  
"What are you doing?"  
"Choosing your outfit for you without you knowing what I am choosing for you."  
"I am very concerned as to what you are going to choose for me." 

After a couple of minutes of standing in silence, Spiderman finally turns her around. He has put all the other clothes back into the wardrobe except for three pieces. A black crop top, a pair of denim shorts and a nude coloured leather jacket. 

"Try it on! Try it on! Try it on!" Spiderman chants to me Madeline picks up the clothes, she shakes her head whilst smirking  
"Try it on! Try it on! Try it on!" Spiderman chants to me Madeline picks up the clothes, she shakes her head whilst smirking.  
"Absolutely not, the only way you are going to see this outfit is if you come creepin' in here after I come back and considering you won't know when we are back. You will never, ever see it." She boops his nose and he just chuckles a little. 

A police car shoots down the street below her balcony, sirens blaring. Spiderman runs straight to the edge of the balcony before looking back at Madeline, as if to see if she approves of him leaving.  
"Go, the city needs you, Spidey-boy." He drops off the edge of the balcony and Madeline watches as he swings past the other windows toward the emergency. 

"How? How am I falling for two people? One of whom I don't even know, yet, I feel as if I know." She leans on the edge of the balcony and closes her eyes, letting the wind take her hair.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N  
When the text turns to italics (leaning on its side like this.), it means that it is in first-person perspective from Madeline's POV.

After Spiderman left on Thursday evening, Peter finally texted Madeline back and she went to school on Friday like normal, not telling anyone about Spiderman. Peter was acting odd though, he just kept smiling at her weirdly. She couldn't figure out why he just kept brushing it off as being excited about today.

Madeline checks her outfit it out in the mirror, she checks the time on her phone '11:58'. With a few minutes before Peter picks her up, she is worried about what Peter will think of her outfit. She's like it but is not sure if Peter will, she feels more confident than ever, even when Harry chose that outfit for her. 

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK  
She grabs her bag and walks to the door, Madeline opens it and comes face to face with Peter, he is wearing his usual three layer outfit, a t-shirt with a science pun on it, a plaid top and some kind of hoodie or jacket over the top.  
"Hey - wow, you look great." He doesn't sound that convincing but she takes it as a compliment anyway, she grabs her keys from the table and closes the door behind her.   
"Let's go, how much money do you have?"  
"About twenty-something, you?"   
"Forty, my dad is very generous with this sort of stuff. It's my first time out since being taken out of the care system so he wants me to have a good time." Peter nods along and they walk out of the lift together.   
"May is giving us a lift as the park is on the lower side of Brooklyn so we'll get there sooner." Madeline nods her head as they skip down the steps together. Peter holds the car door open for her and she climbs in the back, May smiles at her in the rearview mirror.   
"Hi, thank you for the lift."  
"It's nothing, I was heading that way." Peter climbs in the front seat and they drive away from the apartment building.

* * *

After a few hours of walking around and going on the few of the smaller rides, the pair decides to go to the arcade. When they first walk in Madeline is blinded by flashing lights and deafened by loud music. She sees different machines all over the place, one cent machines, five cents machines, claw machines and others. 

"So, what do you want to go on first?" Madeline looks around the room for a moment before deciding on the arcade version of Mario Kart, Pete put the right amount of coins in the machine and they chose are characters. Madeline chose to go as the character named Peach and Peter goes as Mario, she gets to chose the first road they do.   
"Rainbow road!"  
"Sure, I mean, if you want to do the hardest road there is in the game." She hits the enter button and the lap loads. Little does Peter know, they used to have Wii console with Mario Kart on back in the care home.  
"You can choose the next one," Madeline smirks as lap loads up, she rules at Mario Kart. 

She's first off of the start position, leaving Peter behind in seventh. The rest of characters are just computer generated ones that are easy to beat if you know a few little tricks. Peter gets completely trampled by the computer generated ones whilst Madeline is in first and way ahead of all of them. She manages to overlap the two characters in last but Peter is slowly catching, she speeds around the corner and goes off of the track.  
"Haha, good luck catching up now..." Peter's sentence trails off as she lands back on the track, way ahead of him.   
"Looks likes you're the one who's gonna need good luck in order to catch up." He just rolls his eyes and we continue with the race. Madeline, of course, wins it with Peter in fourth.

"Don't look so sour." He crosses his arms over his chest and puts on the voice of a five-year-old.   
"I don't like this game anymore." He slumps down in the chair and Madeline covers her mouth to keep herself from laughing. They get up from the uncomfortable plastic chairs to let some other people have a go at it.  
"I just need to run to the toilet quickly, you get to choose next so choose one whilst I'm away. Can you take my bag?" He nods and Madeline drops her bag at his feet. She walks into the nearest toilets, bumping into someone as she goes, something clicks as it hits the tiled floor.  
"Excuse me, miss, I think you dropped this." She bends down and picks a set of keys, Madeline spots a small black charm on the keychain, it looks familiar, a green octopus on a black background. Isn't this the-?  
"Thank you, my child." Her accent rings through her ears, she sounds exactly like Madeline. Madeline sees the woman is around her mid-thirties, long brown hair, large green eyes that seem to fade to a light blue and a perfectly symmetrical face. She is wearing a pair of black heels, a dark green shirt and black jeans. She takes the keys from Madeline's hands and she feels as if she has been pulled back into reality, she walks away and Madeline walks into the toilets. They are just a simple white tile, white sink bathroom, nothing overly special. 

She runs her hand through her hair as Madeline stares at her own reflection, she can't help but feel ecstatic. Peter and she are having the best time and no one has ever invited her out anywhere before, this is the best day ever. She quickly splashes a little water on her face to pull herself back into reality a little, she looks at her reflection and sees a weird bit of green in her eyes. Madeline leans forward and pulls her bottom eyelids down to get a closer look but it only took one blink for it to disappear. Probably just a weird reflection or something.

She walks out the door, holding it open for a child and mother, Madeline looks around for Peter and spots him leaning against a 'cut the rope' machine. She strolls over to him with a smile on her face, she picks her bag up from the floor.  
"Hey, I want to win something for you on the claw machine over there." He gestures to a claw machine about two machines down.  
"No, you don't have to." He nods his head and walks over to the machine before Madeline can stop him. He slips the coins into the machine, she looks into the machine and sees a variety of cuddly toys. The machine starts up and Peter waits for a moment, looking into the machine he catches Madeline doing the same out the corner of his eye.  
"Ah ah ah, turn around." She rolls her eyes and face away from him, she hears the claw move and scans around the room. 

Young children run around, holding mountains of tickets in their hands, ready to collect any prize they can get their little hands on. Parents run after them, trying to stop them from bulldozing the small room that held one person surrounded by the prizes. For a brief moment, Madeline's eyes catch the eyes of the woman from the bathroom just minutes earlier. She stands behind a glass case, just staring at the pair, she can't help but feel like she recognises her from somewhere. For a fleeting moment, her eyes flash green, like Madeline's did in the bathroom.

Peter puts his hand on her shoulder, sending shivers down her spine and heat rises to Madeline's cheeks.   
"Turn around." She turns around only to be met with an Eve cuddly toy. 

Madeline smiles at the toy as Peter lowers it from his face and he has a cheeky smile on his face   
Madeline smiles at the toy as Peter lowers it from his face and he has a cheeky smile on his face.  
"Tada. Got her first try." She takes the toy from his hands and feels how soft she is, she cuddles her for a moment.  
"Thank you so much, I love her. My first cuddly toy ever."   
"First ever?" Madeline nods her head.  
"I've never really had any money to buy stuff like this. Thank you so much." She hugs Peter around the neck, which takes him a little by surprise but he hugs back. She spots a photo booth just behind the pair and grabs Peter by the hand and drags him into it, Madeline inserts the coins and they pull nice faces at first, then silly faces. In the third photo Peter holds up my Eve plushie and we both pull kissy faces. For the last photo, Madeline rests her head on Peter's shoulder, at first, he's a little shocked but then he puts his head on her head and the photo is taken. Madeline orders two copies of it, she puts in the extra money and waits for the photos to come out. She looks out of the window and has a view of the ocean and spots a Ferris Wheel. She points out the window, Peter nods in agreement and they walk out to it together. The line for it isn't that long so they only have to wait five minutes.

Peter climbs in first and Madeline sits opposite him, it's only a small pod for them to go in but they just about fit it. Eve is sitting in Madeline's lap and she has my bag under the chair to keep it safe, Peter does the same with his bag and they watch as they get higher into the sky. They can see the whole city from up here, Madeline watches as something comes along the horizon, just behind the Avengers' tower and flies to the new facility upstate. Which, she still hasn't been to yet. It's starting to get dark now but she wants to stay out for as long as possible, Madeline doesn't want to leave Peter's side.

"So, what time do you have to be home?"  
"I think the lastest I can be out until is ten, you?"  
"Same, the park closes at seven. What do you want to do until then?"  
"Walk on the beach for a little? I haven't been on the beach for like ten years." Madeline continues to stare across the city but out the corner of her eye she sees Peter gazing at her, she smiles and blushes as he continues to stare.   
"Sounds great."

* * *

They walk down the beach together, shoes and socks off to let the sand get between their toes, it's nice and peaceful. The lights from the theme park and nearby stadium light enough of the beach up for the pair to see ahead, the stars twinkle above them and the ocean crashes to the right of them. The lights from the park reflect off of each wave and make beautiful reflections on to the sand. Madeline is still holding Eve in her arms with her bag hanging off of one shoulder.

"Hey, we should probably get going, it's almost eight thirty and we need to walk through Brooklyn." Madeline nods her head and they walk back to the street, she slips her socks and shoes on and they head off to Brooklyn together.

It's surprisingly quiet for New York City, it's a little too quiet for Peter's taste. Like in a horror film, the monster is just waiting, silently around the corner for the main characters to fall into their trap. Which they were.

They come around a silent corner to only be ambushed by four guys in completely black suits, have to be at least three times our size, the first two grab Madeline's arms, Peter tries to help but he is then grabbed. Madeline drops her cuddly toy as a black van pulls up next to them on the street and they are pushed into it.  
Almost.   
Madeline kicks one of the guys in the balls, he stumbles back a little and she smashes the other guys face into the wall of a nearby building, breaking his nose. Peter is fighting back too, she can't see him though. A sudden hand grabs Madeline by the shoulder before plunging something cold and sharp into her neck, she stumbles back a little and her head feels as if it is being pulled down through the pavement. Everything is louder than it was before and her body feels paralyzed, she feels herself start to fall but she is caught by someone. Her eyes closed and she just lets her body fall, the last thing she hears is.  
"Madeline!"

* * *

I am on a rooftop, alone, I have a sniper rifle in my hand and I am trained on a dark building. I can't see what building it is and there is only one room lit up on the inside, nobody is in there. I wait patiently for something to happen, the door in the back of the room opens and someone walks in. I can't see their face because of the height of the window, the wonder around for a bit before coming closer to the window, I instantly recognise them as being Peter. 

I can't control myself, I aim the rifle at his head and go to pull the trigger but someone else walks in, a group of people.  
The Avengers'. I am screaming, I know I am even though I can't hear myself, I know I am.  
The gun suddenly transforms into a machine gun and I am unwillingly loading it. I look through the scope and put my finger on the trigger, ready to kill them all in one go. I don't want to do it but there's nothing I can do about it, my finger starts to pull the trigger back. Someone leans into my ear, I can't see who it is but I feel like I know them.  
"Pull the trigger, end this all, my child." I pull the trigger, multiple bangs ring through my ears and I start to shake. There's a voice, more of an echo, I recognise it as it gets closer to me. Peter?

"Maddie? Madeline?" She opens her eyes and sits up straight, she feels soft bedding under her hands and realises she is in her bed. She looks around and sees her room with Spiderman next her.  
"Hey, how are you feeling? I picked you up and brought you back here, your friend, Peter, he told me he had to go back to his aunt. I thought it would be best if you weren't alone when you wake up. You were calling out in your sleep, something about the Avengers and Peter?" Madeline pulls her legs up so that they are under her chin.  
"Yeah, it was just a dream, it doesn't matter. How long was I out for?"   
"I'm not sure." She swings her legs over her bed, Madeline's head pounds as she moves. She rubs her forehead with her fingers before addressing FRIDAY.  
"Does my father know what happened to me?" She waits for an automated response from her watch.  
"Yes, Madeline, he was alerted when you watch was taken off. He is on his way here now, I was told to inform him when you got back, he should be here any minute."   
"Shit," She mumbles to herself before turning to Spiderman.  
"Look, I'm sorry you have to go. If he saw you here, god knows what he'd do-"  
"Madeline?" That's not Steve, shit. It's Tony. Before she can get Spiderman out of the room, Tony walks in.  
"There - Spider-boy right?" Spiderman just stares in, what Madeline assumes is, shock.  
"Tony Stark, oh my god. You are my idol, I should get going." He gestures to her balcony and walks to it.  
"Thanks for saving us, I'll see you around the city I guess." He nods and falls off of the edge of the balcony. 

"So, Spiderman, eh?" Tony smirks at Madeline and she rolls her eyes before standing up or at least trying too but falls straight back onto her bed.  
"Okay, take it easy."  
"Where's Steve?"  
"Haven't you heard - of course, you haven't, you were out all day. He went on a mission, had to pull an all-nighter for it. They only got back today, he literally passed out in his food, it was hilarious, wanna see the pictures?" He pulls his phone from his back pocket but Madeline shakes her head.  
"Is everyone okay?" His mood drops a little.  
"Well, Steve is completely wiped out, Sam is fine. There's not a great deal we can do about it." She nods in understanding, yawns and rubs her eyes, there's a gentle knock at the front door. Tony looks at the hologram his watch is projecting, it is the corridor outside the apartment.  
"FRIDAY, run facial recon."   
"It's just Peter, he's a friend from school. He's actually the one who invited me out today, he's nice, you'll love him. He doesn't know about my dad though so keep quiet or something." Madeline says as she gets her door and walks to the front door. She opens it and sees166 a very windswept Peter.  
"Oh, okay, you are good. Sorry about ditching you but May wanted to know if I was okay so I had to go home. I just wanted to bring this back to you." He holds up a dirty looking Eve plushie, she has a few blotches of mud on her but they'll wipe off. Madeline smiles at him and invites him in, she takes Eve from him and walks to the sink.  
"I'm sure she'll survive a small bath," Madeline says as she runs the water into the sink. She adds a small amount of laundry detergent to the water before placing Eve in to soak.  
"You're alright though, aren't you? You didn't get hurt?"  
"No, no, no. I'm good, Spiderman had been following that van for a while so we are lucky he was there. He helped fend off the two guards I was fighting and then I helped you, we got you back here alive. I think the neighbours are going to be creeped out though."  
"Why?"  
"Spiderman had to winch us up to your balcony and we got some weird looks." Madeline chuckles and spots Tony watching us through a crack in her door where she didn't close it.  
"I'll see you on Monday?" Peter nods and walks to the door.  
"Goodbye, Madeline."  
"Goodbye, Peter." As soon as she closes the door Tony is already behind her, smirking.  
"So, you and this Peter then, eh?"  
"Don't, I'm already tired and want to go to bed." She rubs my eyes and starts to walk to her room but Tony catches her arm.  
"Actually, there's another reason I'm here. We need you to come to the Avengers' tower for your safety." Madeline sighs.  
"I thought everyone had moved into the new facility and can it wait until tomorrow? I just want to sleep." He shakes his head.  
"The labs aren't set up in the facility yet so it's to the tower. Sorry, grab a bag and throw in a change of clothes and pyjamas, we have to go now."

Madeline grabs a duffle bag and throws in two days worth of clothes, a pair of pyjamas, she wraps Eve up in a plastic bag to keep her ruining the fresh clothes, the first photo Peter took and the latest set of photos. She smiles at them before putting them at the bottom to keep them safe, she slips her laptop into the bottom to keep the photos safer. Madeline zips the bag up and throws it over her shoulder before following Tony out the door. The pair goes into the lift together and Tony starts questioning her about the events of today.  
"So, what happened today? With the attack?"  
"Don't you already know?"  
"Well, yeah. I want to hear it from you though." Madeline nods her head.  
"We were making our way back from Luna Park when we were ambushed by four massive guys in black suits. Two grabbed me, two grabbed Peter. A black van showed up and they tried to push us into it but I fended for myself, I assume Peter did too." Tony scoffs, she gives him a stern look.  
"That small string bean fended for himself?" Madeline rolls her eyes and continues with the story. They walk out to a black Lexus car with tinted windows.  
"Anyway, I was suddenly stabbed in the back of the neck with some kind of knock out chemical and I just remember falling and someone catching me. I woke up on my bed with Spiderman next to me, then you showed up and you know the rest." She closes the passenger door and the car starts up, she doesn't think Tony is driving it though. The car speeds down the street at a worryingly fast speed.  
"I will do some tests to see what was injected into you, then you can sleep."   
"Okay." Madeline sinks into her chair and just watch the city flash before her droopy eyes.

* * *

Madeline closes her eyes as the needle is poked into her skin, she can't watch it.  
"Just a little more... all done." Madeline grips the crook of her elbow, where the needle was just removed from and looks at Tony.  
"Can I please sleep now?" He is just looking at a tablet, after a moment he finally looks at me.   
"Yeah, you remember where your room is right?"   
"Yeah," She says with a yawn, she stands from the medical table and walks past Tony, looking at the clip on the tablet. It is from earlier when the pair ambushed, his eyes are glued to the screen.  
"Just looking to see who attacked you guys." 

Madeline is too tired to even begin to think about that again, she walks away and goes straight to her room. She throws on her pyjama shirt, taking her shorts off before climbing into bed. She throws her face into my pillow and falls into darkness almost immediately. Finally, some sleep.

* * * 

I'm in the back of a plane, a missile is seated in front of me, it's large with a red timer on the side. I am holding a tablet of some kind, it has a map on it but it is moving as the plane moves. A target appears on the map, I can not see what it is but as it zooms in closer to it I see the facility. Heat signatures appear in the building, for some reason I know exactly who is who from the separate signatures. I can yet again hear myself screaming, their names, but my mouth is not moving. 

My hand moves to the screen of the tablet, I tap the red target and mechanical sounds are heard all around.   
"Yes, destroy them, my child." The bottom of the plane starts to open and the missile starts to be lowered. I can feel myself trying to pull the missile back in but I am not moving. It feels as if someone is grabbing my wrists and there's a voice, Tony?

"Kid? What the hell happened?" She opens her eyes and tries to fight off whoever is holding her.  
"Kid! Calm down, it's me!" Madeline realises she's trying to fend off Tony. She stops trying to fight him off and relaxes, Tony looks completely panicked whilst next to her. A bunch of scientists are at the door waiting for my reaction.  
"Alright, let's go, guys." Everyone clears out of the room except for Tony. He pulls his legs onto the bed and sits next to her. Madeline pulls her legs up to her chin again and waits for Tony to start asking multiple sets of questions.

"Want to talk about it?" She shakes her head, not meeting his eyes. He nods and pulls her for a hug, she sinks into his body a little.

She hates this, how is she meant to sleep if she is always going to have these nightmares all the time. Madeline starts to cry, Tony just holds her and lets her, they hear the pattering of feet coming down the hall. Followed by a small female voice.  
"Tony? Tony?" Pepper Potts. She walks into the room and frowns at the sight before her.  
"Oh, kid." She joins the pair on the bed and hugs Madeline from the other side.  
"Please don't tell Steve, he seems tired enough as it and I don't want to add to the list of problems."   
"Alright, we'll let you tell him if you want." She doesn't want to. Ever.


	10. Chapter 10

Over the course of two weeks, Madeline was held at the Avengers' tower, she managed to memorise the entire layout of the tower. Most of the rooms were empty on the lower floors so they were easy for her to memorise, she had FRIDAY soundproof her room so no one would know of her night terrors. Tony kept an eye on her all the time, just in case something went wrong, her night terrors didn't get worse but they didn't get better and neither did any of the team at spotting how worrisome Madeline had grown. 

She is not sleeping properly but her eating habits have gotten better, she has almost doubled her weight. She has been training with whoever she can to get fitter and to improve her self-defence skills if she were to ever be attacked again. Which she will be. Quite soon as it turns out.

Peter dropped work off for her every day but was never allowed to see her, he wondered why she was under so much security, not that she wasn't special enough to warrant her own protection but "It's not like she Captain America's daughter..." Peter would think to himself. Madeline focused as much as she could on her work but it's hard when you are constantly trying not to fall asleep. Tony is the only one out of the Avengers to notice how tired she was getting, he has been in her place once before, one of his suits almost killed Pepper because of it. He wants to help her but whenever he asks her, she denies all of it. Tony decided to program FRIDAY to alert him when she fell asleep so he could watch over her. 

She spends most nights binging some trashy sitcom on Netflix, currently, she is watching The Big Bang Theory. Tony knows she's doing it but doesn't stop her, else she'll just try doing something else. His thing was developing new suits and technology behind Pepper's back when they lived in Malibu, the longest he went before sleeping was seventy-four hours. The longest Madeline has gone so far is sixty-four.

Spiderman came to visit her, he managed to crawl all the way up the side of the building without being spotted and found Madeline's window. She happily let him in and helped him when he was injured but when Spiderman mentioned Peter. Madeline felt bad, she hadn't spoken to him in two weeks. She'd glance at her phone whenever it went off but she'd ignore it, knowing it was from Peter, she just can't face him right now. 

Until Spiderman repeated her words back to her.  
"When something bad happens, you have three choices. You can either let it define you, let it destroy you or let it strengthen you." She rolled her eyes playfully and talked him through it.

She told him about how he invited her out to Luna Park in Brooklyn, she told him that she didn't know if it was a date or not. She told him about bumping into the strange women with a charm on her keys that Madeline couldn't quite place. She told him this happened before going to the toilet and then seeing some weird reflection in the mirror before seeing her watch them through a claw machine. She showed him the photos they took together and the toy he won for her. She told him all about how he took her on the Ferris Wheel and just gazed, not in a creepy way but it was cute.

Little does she know that he in fact already knows all of this, he loves it though, hearing all of this from her makes him so unbelievably happy. But, what didn't make him happy was, hearing the difference between Peter and Harry. She told him about how he took her clothes shopping, how much fun it was until she went to try some clothes on.   
"He picked them out for me, it felt very forced and as if he wanted me to dress like that to please him. When I started to pick out my own clothes I start to feel as if he was growing angry at me for not liking his clothes. He tried to make me try on a dress and multiple different swimming costumes or bikinis, even though I had clearly stated that I didn't want to. Then the night of the shooting, I was at a party here with Harry. She wouldn't have chosen to hang around with him but he was the only one there around my age. She told him about the looks he was giving her and how when they were on the rooftop together, he touched her face. Wiping some hair from her face made her shudder, she recalled how she didn't like his touch but couldn't figure out why. Spiderman felt his blood boil at this, how could Harry do this? Maybe he wasn't even realising what he was doing? Peter tried to not to let it show that he was upset with Harry, it was made easier by the suit covering his face.

With that, Spiderman left Madeline in her room alone with her thoughts.

* * *

Peter and Madeline have known each other for three months now, they had slowly been getting closer but neither of them knowing the other's secret feelings they had buried deep down for the other. When Madeline went to school for the first time in two weeks, never mentioning her meetups with Spiderman, people would ask her about where she's been, she'd brush it off with 'my dad is a scientist and very overprotective'. Peter didn't push her on it and watched her all day, even confronting Harry when needed. He approached her at lunch when she was getting a book from her locker, Peter just went and stood next to Madeline casually. Harry started to try and flirt with her, clearly making her tense up and her heart rate rise because she is nervous. Peter just casually remarked, "don't you have some studying to do in the library.", Madeline would smile at him and he would feel butterflies in his stomach. 

He had to do it on more than one occasion until Madeline explained her feelings towards Harry's behaviour and he totally understood. He never meant to make her uncomfortable, when Peter heard of it, he was glad that she was happier now. She was still sleeping in the tower because Tony was too worried to let her back into the world, Steve was okay with it because he had seen her train. He knows she can handle herself, he had felt it first hand, she has a slightly higher strength output than most but not to his extent. She had cracked a few of his ribs and bruised him an awful lot. Due to Steve being her biological father and Madeline agreeing with him, she went back to her apartment, a decision she would come to regret in the passing days. 

Everything was going fine at school, she was doing well in all of her classes. She had a thriving social life, helping Peter and Ned with Lego sets, an X-wing, a Y-wing and a couple other small sets. Life at her apartment was great too, Steve was able to visit her more often and train her personally. He cooked for her whenever he could and she got healthier, putting more weight on as the week went by. People were giving her more compliments as both her eyes and skin became brighter. Peter thought she'd never looked so beautiful in the time he'd known her, she was healthier and happier. 

Madeline herself had never felt so confident, she couldn't help but blush everytime she'd catch Peter gazing at her. She'd catch the train with him and he'd get off at her stop, even if it meant having to spend an extra ten minutes walking back to his apartment. He'd walk her into her apartment to make sure she'd get there, after what happened last time they were out together, he wanted to make sure she was always safe. 

But, there was one day he couldn't make sure she was safe, the day of her visit to the new Avengers' facility, upstate. 

When asked about where she was going, she lied and said she was going to the dentist. She may not have liked lying to her friends but who's going to believe her if she said she was going to get a grand tour from Steve Rogers, her biological father, and Tony Stark? 

She walked out to the black car, parked directly outside of the school doors. She pinned her hair up in a few bobby pins and a hair band before taking a seat in the car. As she grabbed the seatbelt to pull across her, she noticed Peter stood in the doorway, she waved to him and he waved back. The driver started the car before turning back to face Madeline.

"The names Hogan, Happy. I'm your driver for today and TODAY only, your father wanted me to tell that he is sorry he can't be here right now. They needed help with lifting some heavier stuff or something, I don't know." He took his sunglasses out from his top inside pocket and slipped them on.

Everything he had just told her was a complete lie, neither of the pair new this, however. Steve had been planning a party for a few weeks, with the help of Nat, Wanda and Tony, of course, just minus the alcohol that Tony said: "was needed for a teenager like her.".

Steve had it all set up, a banner with the words 'Welcome Madeline!' painted on by Wanda. Plates of food scattered around, crisps, sandwiches, sweets, cookies, the lot. Different coloured and shaped balloons were both hung and tied in bunches by strips of ribbon were all of the room, with even a few loose ones on the floor to be kicked around. It was all set up, all set up for her never to see. 

Peter Parker was back in class again, waiting for the end of the day to come so he could hopefully see Madeline again. He was sat in Chemistry with Harry next to him, doing an experiment together whilst Madeline is away for the afternoon. Everything was going well, except for Ned breaking three beakers in a row and MJ took over from him. Until something pulled at the back of Peter's mind. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end, a chill went down his spine and his mind jumped to Madeline. He knew something was wrong with their trip.   
And he was right.

The pair was driving down a lane, the lane that Happy had driven on multiple occasions and knew off by heart. Madeline sat in the back, playing some stupid game on her phone whilst Happy was focused on driving. Everything was fine, Madeline was excited and Happy was, well, not greatly happy. Everything was perfect.  
Until the first bullet hit.

The first bullet hit Happy in the left side, he was so unprepared for it that he lost control of the car for a moment. He swerved and just about missed a tree, Madeline kept quite and dug her nails into the palms of her hands out of shock. 

The second and third bullet took out two of the tires, making it practically impossible for Happy to control the car. He was bleeding a lot and trying his best to control the car but it was no use. The car slammed into a tree, the car toppled into a ditch, sending Happy flying from his chair and rendering Madeline almost unconscious. 

Her forehead was bleeding badly and her right knee was dislocated. She knew she had to get out of the car or she could die, her ears were ringing and her eyes weren't focusing on anything properly. She crawled her way out of the vehicle, screaming in pain as she went. Glass stuck into her skin as she tried to get over to Happy to try and help him, but she didn't make it.

Something cold grabbed the back of Madeline's shirt, she was picked up off of the ground but unable to move properly, Madeline could fight back. She was on the verge of passing out and was rendered powerless, she hated it. She was carried back to the road and thrown across the tarmac, she tumbled and groaned before grabbing her knee. A small pool of blood slowly began to build around her head, it was watered down slightly by her painful tears.

A dark green van came out of a lane further down the stretch of road and parked its backend a mere few feet from Madeline, a set of guards with handguns burst from the back. Setting their guns on her, another person comes from the van, a woman. A woman that Madeline instantly recognises.  
The women from the day at Luna Park.

"Stand down, she can't hurt us. Not in this condition." She approached Madeline, stroking some hair from her face, she smiles an evil smile.  
"It's okay my child, we'll take care of you from here on out." She stands up straight and adjusts her shirt before nodding at the guards. They put their guns away and pick up the girl under her armpits, dragging her along, Madeline groans out in pain and looks the shooter in the eye.

She sees a man whose hair is dark brown and long, it looks as if it hasn't been washed in years. He had a tight black leather shirt on that covered his arms and chest, he was holding a rifle in his left hand. Madeline couldn't help but recognise him, he took some orders from the women before walking toward the treeline. Something glinted in the sunlight and Madeline knew for a fact that it wasn't the gun but rather his hand.  
He has a metal arm.

Madeline was laid down in the back of the van roughly, she knew there is no point to escaping as she is too injured. Something was stabbed in her leg and she moved her head just enough to the side to see it was a needle. The women climbed into the seat next to her and started to stroke Madeline's hair gently before whispering in her ear.  
"Sleep now, my child." Madeline's eyelids slowly closed as the world around her faded to black.

Steve was hidden behind a table as they waited for the car to arrive. He was excited to see her reaction, he was excited for them to be able to finally live under one roof together. He was smiling like a lovesick puppy or an idiot.

An alarm on Tony's phone went off, everyone turned to him, just as worried as the next person but not as worried at Steve. He watched on as Tony saw the surveillance tapes from the car. He watched as Happy got shot but kept control of the car, he watched as his friend of eight years be thrown across the tarmac. He watched as a fifteen-year-old screamed in pain whilst trying to climb out of a ditch. He felt his eyes tear up at the sight of the girl he'd come to be so close with scream out in pain as she moved.

He instantly activated the 'Rescue the Happiness' operation, designed just for Happy. After Tony almost lost him a few years ago, he developed an operation to always find him.

Steve was screaming at Tony to find out what was going on but get a cold shoulder from Tony.

* * *

After they'd had picked Happy up and made sure they got him to the hospital wing. Tony finally showed the tapes to the rest of the team and not with a great response.  
"What the hell, Stark? Why didn't you show us this the moment you saw it?" Sam yelled at him, Steve hasn't said anything on the matter. He just keeps mumbling to himself, nobody knows what to do, with Happy in the hospital wing and Madeline missing. Everyone felt as if they had lost a piece of themselves, Tony and Steve especially. None of them was going to stop until she was found.  
Particularly Peter.

Peter had run from his classroom and straight to the Avengers' tower in a hopes that his hunch was wrong. When he got there no one would help him, they'd scoff and walk away from the child. Just as he was about to give up, he got a call from an unknown number.  
"Hello?"  
"Peter? Right?"  
"Y-yeah, who is this?"  
"The names Tony, Tony Stark. I hear you and Madeline are quite close." Peter is more worried about Madeline's safety than being on the phone with the Tony Stark.  
"Y-yeah, I guess. Why are you calling me exactly? Is she okay?"  
"She been kidnapped, we could use someone who knows her personally like you do."  
"Um... okay? Have you spoken to her father?"  
"They're not that close, he only just-"  
"Got her out of the care system, right." The Avengers all share a look before going back to the phone call.  
"I'll have an agent come collect in tell from you at your apartment. Good day, Mr Parker." And with that Tony ended the call, FRIDAY is already looking for clues as to where Madeline could've possibly been taken but is coming up with nothing.

* * *

Madeline lifts her head from where it is rested, a cold, damp concrete floor is under her. She tries to prop herself up on one elbow but a sharp shot of pain goes through her elbow. She opens her eyes and sees a dark room, a cell, just enough light to see a needle in her arm. The needle is attached to an IV line, she tries to move her legs but struggles as her right knee is attached to something. A pair of silver handcuffs clipped on to a metal pipe, she has some kind of weird brace thing on it. She tugs and tugs at it but it wouldn't come off.

She looks around the room for anything, all that is in here is a broken tap, a buzzing light and an IV line. She looks at the holder it's on and realises I can use it. She grabs it, rips the needle from her arm and starts to bend the metal into a hook. She hooks it into the inside of the handcuff and starts to pull with all her strength, which, isn't very much. 

To Madeline's surprise within a few minutes, the cuff breaks. She uncuffs herself and uses the rest of the holder as a crutch, she stands from the floor. Trying to be as quiet as she can is kind of hard when you are in an unbelievable amount of pain, she manages to get out the door of the cell. She limps her way to a brightly lit, empty room only to trip and eat shit, the holder clangs against the floor. Her head starts to throb at how loud it is, everything in her body seems off, her hearing, eyesight and balance. She rolls onto her back and sees someone stood in the doorway where she has just come from.  
"Ah, I see you are awake воин, I wanted to welcome you-"  
"Where the hell am I?" She just seems to grow a little frustrated.  
"If you'd let me finish, I want to welcome you home." A light turns on behind her and she stands out of the way, Madeline sees sit, the same symbol from the keychain.  
"Welcome to Hydra."


	11. Chapter 11

After Mr Stark hung up on Peter, he wandered through the streets, not knowing what to do. He said he's going to send an agent to speak with Peter, has something happened? Where's Madeline? Is she safe?

He decides to go back to his apartment to try and calm himself down, he can't get the thought of Madeline being hurt out of his head. He walks to the apartment door and opens it, May is home today so at least he's not alone whilst this is going on.   
"Peter? What are you doing here? Aren't you meant to be at school?" She gets up from her seat to comfort him as he starts to well up, he slides down the back of the door and she hugs him from one side.   
"Woah. What's brought this on all of a sudden?" He wipes my eyes and looks at her.  
"It's Madeline, I think something really bad has happened to her." May starts to get sadder as he continues to tell her about what has happened.  
"She left school early to go to a dentist appointment and I got a call from one of the Avengers' to ask me some questions about how much I knew about Madeline before telling me they are sending an agent to talk to me." He brings his knees to his chin and hugs his legs, May starts to cry with him. May may not know - have known Madeline that long but she saw how happy the pair made each other and how well Madeline cheered Peter up after Ben died. 

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK  
They stand out the way of the door and Peter looks through the peephole to see who it is, Steve Rogers? He drops his bag down on the other side of the door to keep it out of the way, he opens the door and they just stare at each other for a moment.   
"Um, please come in." Peter stands out the way of the door as he walks in, he is wearing just some casual clothes, undercover type clothes. He walks in and May gestures for him to take a seat, which, he does kindly. Peter sits opposite Mr Rogers and May sits next to Peter, she holds his hand for support.  
"I don't know how well either of you two knows Madeline but she had been kidnapped. This video was streamed from the car she took from the school, you are seen waving her off right before they headed upstate." Steve pulls his phone from his pocket but before he can play the video Peter interrupts.  
"Wait? Upstate? She said she had a dentist appointment in town?" Steve sighs deeply before looking at May and Peter.  
"I'm gonna be honest, Madeline trusts you more than anyone else from what I have seen and heard so I trust you." Does she talk about me?  
"She wasn't going to a dentist appointment in town, she was heading upstate to the new Avengers' facility to see her new room and have a look around."  
"Why would she have a room in the Avengers' facility, I know her dad's a scientist there but-"  
"Her father's not a scientist there, she was under strict instructions not to tell anyone her real identity for her own safety." This conversation just raises more questions than it answers.  
"Why? Who're her real parents?" May sits forward, still gripping Peter's hand tightly out of support and worry.  
"We don't know about her mother but I'm her father, again, she wasn't supposed to tell anyone so it's not her fault that she lied to you."  
"I get that, what happened to her though? Where is she?"   
"This is going to be hard to watch." Steve unlocks his phone and turns it toward us. A video plays of Madeline in the back of a car with a male driver in the front. There's a 'thwip' sound and he almost loses control of the car, Madeline clearly digs her nail into the palms of her hands out of fear. May covers her mouth in shock and Peter feels hot tears burn as they roll down his cheeks. There's a second and third 'thwip' sound and the car crashes into a tree, sending the driver flying a few feet onto tarmac whilst the car rolls into a ditch. The video cuts to the inside of the car, Madeline has a bad cut on her forehead that is just trickling blood down her face and into her hair. She crawls her way out of the car, screaming as she goes, multiple cuts and injuries are clearly affecting her ability to focus. The only thing that can be seen on the camera is her legs at this point until she is dragged from the car, crying out in pain as she goes. The video ends and Peter just stares at the blank screen for a moment.

Steve puts his phone down on the table and wipes tears from his face as well, he takes a deep breath before speaking to them.  
"We don't know who took her or why but the driver saw her be taken, he managed to take this photo of her before they got away and before he fell into a coma." He picks his phone up again and a shows the two a picture of dark-haired, light blue eyes and very tall women with a perfectly symmetrical face. Peter recognises her from the day at Luna Park, she was staring at Madeline in a weird way.  
"I recognise her from when Madeline and I went to Luna Park in Brooklyn she was there. She just kept at Madeline and I think I saw her later on in the back of the van when we were almost kidnapped..." My sentence trails off as he realises he hasn't told May about what happened.  
"Hold on. What? Were you almost kidnapped? Why didn't you tell me?"  
"Because I didn't want you to worry or freak out. When you freak out, I freak out and when I freak out everything just turns into a freaking mess." May just grabs him by the shoulders and pulls him into her chest.  
"Next time you tell me, okay?"  
"Okay." The pair pulls away and looks at Steve who just sits awkwardly in front of us.  
"Did Madeline ever tell you anything? Anything personal about the care home? Her eating patterns? Sleeping pattern?-"  
"She gets night terrors, ever since the night of the almost kidnapping, she'd have dreams and wake up screaming in fear. She'd tell me about them in school." Steve seems shocked by this, did he not know?  
"So, they've been happening for a couple of weeks now," He leans back before muttering something, that Peter only just caught, under his breath  
"And Stark didn't tell me." He looks down at his hands for a moment before back at the pair.  
"Do you know what these dreams were about? Was it the same dream just repeated or different dreams?"  
"She said they were about trying to kill everyone she knew around her, loved ones. I guess that includes you. It was never the same way though, always a different but the same target, the Avengers." Technically Madeline did tell him this, just without realising it. Steve bites the inside of his lip and nods before standing up.  
"I may come back, later on, to inform you of any more information, should it be needed." He walks to the door and leaves May and me to deal with everything he just said.  
"I'm going to go to my room, I need time to deal with this." She nods and lets go of his hand as he walks away, he closes his door and grabs his Spiderman costume from the hatch in the ceiling. Changing into his suit, he knows the perfect person to help, he basically loves Peter - or at least Spiderman. Peter opens his window and climbs out, he has to speak to Ned about this.

* * *

"Oh my god! You're the...?" Ned freaks out as Peter is stuck to the wall by his bedroom window, he backs away and almost trends on one of his many Lego sets.  
"Yes, I am. Now, I hear you are good with computers, yes?" He nods with an excited look on his face.  
"A friend of ours has gone missing, she's been kidnapped, Madeline, Madeline Smith." Ned's face turns from one of excitement to shock and fear within the space of a millisecond.  
"I need you to look into anything. Any groups, Hydra first of all though, they're the biggest group there is and all those files got released onto the internet. Could you decrypt them?" Ned grins and grabs his laptop, he starts typing viciously at the keyboard.  
"But why me?"  
"Because I bumped into your friend Madeline, she told me you are good with computers and engineering. She has actually helped me out on multiple occasions when I was injured, text me on this number if you find anything." Peter shots a web onto a nearby notepad and pen, he scribbles down the number of the burner phone he just bought.  
"I'll be back in a few days time, please uncover as much as you can." Ned nods.  
"Yes, sir - Spiderman, sir Spiderman?" Peter leave Ned to question what to call him and swings off into the city to do his usual duties.

It's hard to get Madeline out of his head though, what if she's being tortured? Or hurt? What if it's because of him? Because she knows him and has helped him? No, he can't think like that, he's no help to her if he is too busy worrying about who to blame for this. The only person to blame for this is the people who kidnapped her. He places the phone on the rooftop beside him as I wait for Ned to come up with anything. 

Peter's actual phone starts to ring and he sees it is Ned calling, he braces himself for his raving about Spiderman.  
"Peter? You are never gonna guess what happened?"  
"What?"  
"Spiderman came to my window and asked for my help!"  
"Help? With what? Is it about Madeline being missing? Her father stopped by my apartment to tell me."  
"Yeah, it is. I am going through some of those Hydra files that Natasha Romanoff leaked onto the internet and I found one just for Madeline. It says here that she was 'Experiment Seven' under the 'Elite Death Squad' team. Woah, they can take down a country overnight and never been seen coming. Damn, that's awesome."  
"Anything else? I'm worried sick about Madeline."  
"So, am I. I am still looking and I got Spiderman's number! Or at least a number to a burner phone he brought, I am going to text the file to him in a minute."  
"Well, I better let you get on, tell me all about it tomorrow at school, yeah?"  
"Yeah, see ya."  
"Bye, Ned." Peter hangs up and not a minute later a text comes through on the burner phone. Peter picks it up and sees it has received one long text about the file, it's a flip phone so it'd never be able to handle the amount of data the actual file has. He scrolls through the message, it only contains the information Ned just gave to him over the phone call. At least he has something to work with here, it' a start for definite. He's not going to stop until he finds her and bring her back to her father.

* * *

Peter opens his locker to put his books that he doesn't need for tomorrow in his bag and ones he does need in the locker. Someone taps him on the shoulder, he looks over and sees the whole gang, minus Ned.  
"Hey."   
"So, Harry is having a movie night tonight. Want to join us?" Peter closes his locker as he turns to them.  
"Sorry, I can't. May and I are going out tonight. Maybe next time?" Harry and MJ nod their heads and say goodbye to him as they walk away.

Peter walks out the school in a hurry to get to the usual alleyway he changes in. He stopped at Delmar's to get his usual sandwich this morning, knowing it would be closed by the time he gets back tonight. As per the norm, Mr Delmar asks about Madeline. As usual, Peter says he hasn't heard anything about her, he says something in Spanish about them being a cute couple. Peter pays for the sandwich, rolling his eyes as he does.

Peter checks the entrance to the alleyway to make sure no one is watching before getting changed. He slips his mask on and sticks his bag against a wall before swinging to Hell's Kitchen.

It's not a very long trip to Hell's Kitchen but finding Jessica Jones may be more difficult. All he knows is that she is a Private Investigator who goes under the business name of Alias Investigations.

As it turns out, she has glass windows with is written on them. Peter swings onto the side of her building and goes to knock on one of the windows but someone walks through the door.  
"C'mon, Jess. You need these guys, you can be like the Avengers of Hell's Kitchen." Peter recognises that voice.  
"Trish, you know I don't do the whole vigilante bullshit. I just deal with the stuff that gets in my way and that's it, I'm not like that idiot in Queens who goes around in a red hoodie or whatever." There's a knock at the door.  
"Well, I invited them here to talk it out with you."  
"Why? Trish, why?" Someone opens the door and Peter looks through the window. He's spot a woman with dark hair and a glass of alcohol in her hand. There's a woman with blonde hair at the door, Trish Walker from her radio show, Trish Talk. May listens to her radio show in the car sometimes, a big guy in a black and yellow hoodie walks in with a man behind him. As they gather in the room Peter realises the man is in fact blind.  
"He's blind," Peter whispers to himself. He cocks his head in the direction of the window.  
"Yes, yes, I am. Mr Spiderman." Peter almost jumps out of his skin and fall off of the wall. He catches himself on one of her windows, he smacks his head against the wall and feels his head be scrapped against the wall.

The dark haired women comes to the window and pulls Peter up by the web. She pulls him into her apartment and slams him into a wall.  
"Jesus, Jess!" Trish calls out as she holds him by the throat.  
"What do you want? Why were you listening to our conversation?" Her breath stinks of alcohol.  
"I'm just here to talk to Jessica Jones about IGH. I swear." She turns to the blind man and he nods his head. She releases her grip from Peter's throat and he slides down the wall clutching his neck.  
"So? What do you want to know and why?"  
"My friend has been kidnapped, I discovered a file on her and it mentioned the use of drugs that were made by IGH. I followed up on IGH and it led me to you. All I want to know is there any companies that IGH sold their drugs to? I know about... the experiments they did on people, I just want to find my friend." He looks down at his webshooters and he feels a hand be put on his shoulder.  
"We'll help you kid." A deep voice replies, Peter's eyes meet with the guy in yellow and black.  
"We will?" Jessica asks him, Trish smacks her in the arm and Jessica rolls her eyes.   
"We'll help you."

THREE MONTHS LATER

School has almost come to an end for Peter, Ned, MJ and Harry, well, it ended for Harry weeks before everyone else. His father's condition had slowly been deteriorating and there was nothing that could be done for him, little did any of the gang, except for Harry, know that it is genetic. Harry will slowly become like his father, he was left a multi-billion dollar company, having no clue as to how to run the company meant that board members are trying to push him out. He knows that the illness starts at this age, thanks to his father's last words literally being "It all starts in the hand, my son.". None of the others in the group knows about it, he doesn't want to put that kind of stress on them especially with Peter's grades dropping the way they are.

Peter hadn't got any closer to finding Madeline. He knew she was still missing as Steve visited him and Aunt May on many occasions, he still had the help of the 'Defenders' as they called themselves in Hell's Kitchen which comforted him.

His grades had been declining because he was too busy thinking about different leads he had found. From September he is a Sophomore, he is at the bottom of the grades at just a passing grade. May is extremely worried about him, as are the rest of the gang and his teachers. He wasn't spending time with his friends anymore and even fewer time at the apartment. Deep down they knew what Madeline means to him, even before he does. He is coming home every night with more and worse bruises than the last, none significant enough on his face for May to notice. Although, she has been noticing how he claims to be going to Ned's or Oscorp tower but when rings either of them he's not there. She has also noticed that he hasn't been coming home until late at night, she was puzzled on what he could possibly be doing.

The Avengers weren't any closer to finding Madeline either, FRIDAY had been programmed to drop any other searches until Madeline is found. Everyone has to go through Tony and Steve in order to get anything done with FRIDAY, most of which were rejected. Steve was losing his mind over it, he just wanted Madeline to come home safely but after seeing the tapes he knows that won't happen easily. Tony had fallen back into his old drinking habits and Pepper didn't know how to help him, even she felt sad about Madeline being gone. Both Tony and Steve had to be pulled from active duty until further notice because they just couldn't focus on anything else. Everyone agreed that it was a good thing, them being able to work together with little or no friction like there usually was between them. The only friction the team had had to deal with from the two of them was when Steve found out about Madeline's night terrors, it was a short but heated argument none the less. Pepper had to step in and sort it out, she explained about how Madeline didn't want Steve to worry about it whilst he was away on missions. He apologised to Tony and they went straight back to work on finding Madeline. Thanks to an 'anonymous' tip-off, they started to search through the Hydra files Nat had released only a year and a half earlier but for all of it to amount to nothing. They had been doing so many searches that Tony had to fix FRIDAY's servers on more than one occasion. 

Happy had woken up from his coma but had memory loss, there is one thing that he remembers though, seeing James Barnes, The Winter Soldier. He only told Tony about it though, he knew what Barnes means to Steve and decided to let Tony handle it. Tony never told Steve about it because he knew it was something else on top of all the worrying Steve was already going through with Madeline.

Wanda felt like she'd lost her brother all over again, Madeline was like a sister to her. They'd binged watched romantic comedies together like there was no tomorrow. Wanda helped Madeline decorate her room in the tower a little, even though the tower was going up for sale. They had girly chats and painted each other's nail, they went shopping together, even though Madeline didn't like shopping Wanda made it enjoyable for her.

Sam had lost a piece of him as well, the two of them would pull pranks on Steve for a laugh. They had a bet going to see who could pull the biggest prank, Madeline was winning. The last prank she did was filling Steve's bed with personalised confetti that read "AMERICA! FUCK YEAH!" in red, white and blue. Steve found it just as hilarious as the two of them did and even threw odd pieces of the confetti at them.

Natasha had lost a friend, as much as she hated to admit it, Madeline was one of her closet friends. She was closer to Madeline in the month that she was around that she is with Sam or Wanda or even Tony. She loved training with Madeline, she always brought a different kind of energy to the sessions. Not the 'I'm here to train because I have to be.' energy, it was more like 'I'm here to train because I want to be here.'. For Natasha, it was very refreshing to see that and have that energy around her. They'd shared secrets and had girl talk, Natasha even taught Madeline how to swear in multiple languages. Steve did not find it as amusing as the two girls did, however.

Even Vision was upset by the taking of Miss Rogers, he may be an android but he grew fond of her presence in the room. To him, she clearly made everyone happier and brighten up a room full of people just by being there.

But out of all the Avengers, none of them could match Peter's feelings toward Madeline. He likes her, as in likes her little does he know. Ever since they first met, Peter has found Madeline stunning and was just attracted to her beauty. So when she went missing it made him realise just what Madeline actually meant to him.

These feeling where only enforced when he came home from school one day. It was just like any other day for the past six months, he was getting ready for his Spiderman duties and for new information from Ned. He was getting changed in his room, May was working a double shift so he was alone. Someone knocked on the door so Peter removed the trousers and threw on a pair of sweatpants. He walked to the door thinking it was probably a wrong address or someone trying to sell something.

But when he opened the door, all he could do was stare. Tears started to stream down his face at the sight before him.  
"Hey." Is all she says.


	12. Chapter 12

"Hey-" Is all she says before Peter pulls her into a bear hung around her neck. He starts to weep into her shoulder as she weeps into his, neither of them wants to let the other go. She winces a little, she must be hurt, she has a clear bruise on her left cheek. What the hell did they do to her?  
"Pete, I'm so sorry." She puts her hand on the back of his head and Peter tries to clear his eyes of tears as they continue to hug.   
"Why? You shouldn't be sorry, this isn't your fault. Do you want to talk about it?" Finally, they pull apart and she shakes her head.   
"No, I can't. Not now." Peter nods his head, they walk to the couch and take a seat.

"I don't want to ask a stupid question but are you doing okay?" She shakes her head and he sees her hands are trembling. He takes her hands in his own and he realises just how cold she is. All she is wearing is a t-shirt and a pair of leggings. Peter grabs the blanket off of the back of the couch and wraps it around her, she smiles and Peter feels a warm sensation in his chest. He sees a few tears still roll down her face so he pulls her into his chest, she snuggles in closer to him and he realises it.

The thing he's been avoiding this whole time, his feelings. Peter likes Madeline, she's cute, she's funny and she has always been able to cheer him up no matter what. He knows he has no chance with her though, her father is Captain America after all. He can't believe I didn't see it before, the way she makes him feel is indescribable, happiness mixed with the urge to kiss her is what he's feeling right now but he knows he shouldn't. 

She slowly falls asleep on his chest and Peter manages to move so we are both comfortable. Little purr like snores start to come from her, Peter can't help but smile at how cute she is when she sleeps or how cute she is in general. He rests his head on top of hers and starts to fall asleep as well, it's weird how she seems so okay with this. Just showing up six months after disappearing with nothing but a bruise on her face and maybe a few other injuries. 

* * *

"Peter, Peter." Peter opens his eyes and sees May is directly in front of him, he looks down at his lap and sees Madeline is still there. Still gently snoring.  
"What time is it?" He rubs his eyes and tries to move out from underneath Madeline without disturbing her.   
"It's eight-thirty, I didn't want to disturb you but I need to know. Have you called Steve?" Steve gave them his number in case they saw her in public or if they found any new information out.  
"No, I completely forgot. I fell asleep just after she did, I think this might be the first decent sleep she has had in a while. Can you call him tomorrow?" May nods her head and Peter wraps the blanket around Madeline as if she were a worm and picks her up bridal style. If she were awake right now, he thinks he'd be blushing uncontrollably and she'd probably just giggle in his arms. May just smirks at him in a weird way and he shakes his head whilst rolling his eyes.

Peter lays her down on his bed and pulls the covers over her to keep warm her, he gently closes his bedroom door behind him.   
"I'm going to sleep on the couch for tonight, just to let her get some sleep in a decent bed." May nods her head and heads to bed as she has an early shift in the hospital tomorrow.

* * *

Madeline only had a couple of dreams in the night, neither of which fully woke her up. Peter ended up sleeping in his bed with her to keep her calm in the night. May has decided to keep Peter at home today because of Madeline, she turned his alarm off before it could wake either of the pair up. He feels better for sleeping so long, it has been a while since he has had a full night's sleep. He's been so busy with trying to work with Jessica Jones in Hell's Kitchen that he hasn't had much sleep. 

May calls for Steve around midday, she managed to get off work early for the pair. Madeline is still asleep but Peter thinks she will wake up soon, she has been asleep for over twelve hours. May comes back in from the corridor and hangs up on whoever is on the other end of the call.   
"Wanda Maximoff is on her way to pick her up, she's bringing a medical team with her to check her over for injuries. How is she?"  
"Still asleep, I think we should just leave her be for now." May nods in agreement and starts to put her stuff away.

It doesn't take Wanda long to get to the apartment, she knocks on the door and May answers. Peter stands up from the couch to speak with her.  
"How is she?"  
"Right now, she's asleep. She hasn't called out or said anything since she arrived. Where's Steve?" He shows Wanda to his room.  
"He's at a funeral in the UK, someone close to him died suddenly. The news of Madeline returning might cheer him up." Madeline is in the exact same position as he left her, she is still asleep. Wanda walks over and crouches down beside the bed, she starts to gently shake her shoulder to wake her up.  
"Hey, I'm here to take you home." She doesn't respond, Wanda keeps trying to wake her up but nothing seems to work. She takes her phone out of her pocket and calls for someone, a medic Peter assumes. 

Not a minute later, a medic is rushing in and checking her pulse before shining a light into her eyes.  
"She can hear us and sense whats going on around her but can't wake up. I think she has fallen into some kind of coma from fatigue, we'll take her to the medical wing straight away." Wanda thanks them, May and Peter stay out of the way as they bring a stretcher in for her.

May picks up a bag full of stuff and throws it to him, Peter gives her a puzzled look and she gestures to the door. Just as Wanda is leaving he catches the door before she can close it.  
"Please let me come with you. Please." She stares at him for a moment before nodding, he says goodbye to Aunt May before chasing Wanda outside of the apartment building.

They lift Madeline into the back of the ambulance, Wanda grabs Peter's wrist and pulls him towards a black car. It looks the exact same as the one Madeline originally crashed in, Peter climbs in the passenger's side and Wanda gets in the driver's seat.   
"They are going to take her to the medical wing and get her sorted with a bed. You know, make her comfy." She drives after the ambulance, which has its lights and sirens on whilst Peter agrees with what she is saying.  
"But for the time being, I need to speak with you about her and why she just showed up. For now, let's just get her there." Peter runs his hand through his hair repeatedly as they drive upstate.

The ambulance arrives before us and Peter wants to run to her, make sure she is okay but he knows he can't. He has to follow Wanda, she leads him inside the medical wing and into an office. He sits opposite her, twiddling his thumbs out of stress.  
"What time did she show up?" He thinks back for a moment.  
"Around three-ish, I had just gotten home from school at the time. I opened the door and there she was, we hugged and spoke to each other but for only like five minutes before she fell asleep."  
"What did you talk about?"  
"I asked her if she wanted to talk about it, she said no, which, to be fair, I kind of expected. I asked a stupid question, are you doing okay? To which the answer was no, again, I expected that. She started to cry and tremble so I pulled her into my chest and let her cry, she fell asleep and so did I. My Aunt May, she woke me up around five hours later and I managed to get Madeline into my bed. I slept on the couch until she called out in the night."  
"So, she did wake up then?"  
"No, she didn't fully wake up. She was partially awake but it was almost as if she could sense I was there."  
"What do you mean?"  
"After the second nightmare, I stayed with her in case she had another one but she didn't." Wanda leans back in her chair, not breaking eye contact with him for one second.  
"Interesting, I should call Steve, someone will come fetch you when Madeline is ready to be seen." She walks outside the office and Peter sits in silence as he waits to be taken to Madeline.

Peter thinks back to the last six months worth of events, the day she went missing, the days Steve came to the apartment with very little news, he went to the Defenders for help. The defenders, he needs to text Jessica, He pulls his phone out of his pocket and opens messages.

Peter  
Madeline is back but in a coma-like state  
Don't know when she'll wake up.  
Sent 13:14  
Read 13:14

Jessica  
Ok.  
Read 13:14 

She seems like she's in a good mood or just busy. Probably busy with a Private Investigator case, that or she's getting drunk.

Wanda comes back in again and gestures for Peter to follow her, he gets up and grabs his bag. She is still on the phone as we walk down toward the main area of the medic wing.  
"Steve, they have me locked in here, Vision won't let me out on Stark's orders. I managed to get to Madeline before Stark did though so that's good at least." He can hear a small voice on the other end.  
"I know Wanda, I'm sorry I can't get you. I need to get Bucky." He remembered seeing on the news that he blew up the Sokovia Accords meeting in Viena or something.  
"I'll send someone to come get you as soon as I can. I promise." With that, the line goes dead, Wanda slips her phone back into her back pocket and reaches for a door handle in front of them. 

The first thing he sees as the door opens is Madeline. Laid on a bed with a breathing tube crossing her face that leads to her nose, she had an IV line in her arm with a few cables attached to her chest, monitoring her heart rate. There are a few of them attached to her head, monitoring her brain activity. Peter sits in the chair next to her bed as a nurse straightens her bedsheets out a little.  
"She can hear us but at the moment, she can't respond. The doctors think it won't take that long to for her to wake up, she's a fighter." He smiles and nods.  
"Hell yeah, she is." The nurse and Wanda leave me alone with her, he picks her hand up and just holds it for a moment. He can't think of any words to say to her so he just sits there with her, holding her ice-cold hand, waiting. Waiting for her to come back to him. Again.

* * *

"Mr Parker" Peter opens his eyes and realise that he had fallen asleep on the edge of Madeline's bed.  
"What time is it?"  
"Almost six-thirty, there is a car waiting for you outside the building to take you home." He rubs his eyes and rubs circles on the back of her hand for the last time before picking his bag up and leaving the room. Vision shows him out to the main area, Wanda is stood at the door waiting for Peter.  
"Please call me if anything changes with her." She nods as she holds the door for him, he walks down the steps and spots a navy blue car. Peter climbs in the back, the only thing on his mind is Madeline and what could have possibly happened to her over the course of those five months?

* * *

Madeline hears a door close and she finally has the strength to open her eyes, Madeline sees she is in a hospital bed with wires connected all over her skin. She has another IV line in her arm and is alone, where is everybody? She flicks the covers off of herself and swings her legs over the edge of the bed, grabbing the IV line holder for support, she stands up. Madeline limps her way to the door and out into the corridor, it's like a ghost town in here.

After twenty minutes of limping around, she finally finds Wanda, who, is staring at the ground with her red energy coming out of her hands. There's someone on the floor, Clint? What is he doing here? What the hell was Wanda doing? What the hell is going on? 

Wanda jogs away, hand in hand with Clint, Madeline knows Wanda would never just leave her behind so she knows something is wrong. She runs over to the hole Wanda made in the ground and see it is at least a few hundred feet deep and there's something coming out of it. Vision. He floats up and stands next to her like nothing happened, he doesn't even notice Madeline stood there. He just hovers away like nothing happened, she stands there in shock of what just happened. Vision didn't even notice her and Wanda has run off with Clint, just like that. 

Wait, this is the new facility, wasn't Madeline at Peter's apartment? Maybe she should go there, try and get some answer from Peter about what has happened. She goes back to her room, ripping the IV line from her arm she thinks about how she is going to get out of here. 

She knows it's rude but she steals some of Wanda's clothes, she should arrive in something other than a hospital gown, it would be a little weird if she did. As she grabs a t-shirt she notices Wanda has left her TV on, there's a news report on about how Steve has escaped the United Nations custody in Viena. Along with Sam and Bucky, seriously, what the fuck is going on? Who the hell is Bucky? Madeline needs to find them, she turns the TV off, not wanting to hear any more about her father being a criminal. It's not true, it can't be true, she's sure there is a reasonable explanation for all of this. 

She changes into Wanda's clothes, being careful of her sore ribcage, at the moment she can't really recall what happened to her but she's sure it will all come flooding back to her as time passes. She runs to one of Tony's drawers in the living room and finds an identical phone to her own, she turns it on and checks to make sure it has FRIDAY on it. Which it does, thank god. She runs to the entrance of the building and runs in a general direction toward the city.

* * *

It took Madeline a few good hours but she made it to Peter's apartment, he should be getting ready for school right now. Madeline knocks heavy-handedly on the door and May answers it instantly.

"Madeline? You're awake?"   
"Yeah, look, I don't really know what has been going on in the past few days and I really need to speak with Peter."  
"He's not here."  
"He's left a little early for school, hasn't he?"   
"He's on an internship in Germany."  
"With who?"  
"Tony Stark." Oh shit, that must be where Steve and the rest of the team are.  
"When?"  
"Yesterday, after he got home from school. He had to leave right away so he did." Tony's up to something.  
"Sorry for disturbing you, I have to go." She runs to the stairwell and skips down the stairs, she pulls the phone out and commands FRIDAY to have a chopper land on the roof of her building in twenty minutes time. 

She runs back to her apartment, she doesn't need to stop to catch her breath anymore. She bursts through my apartment door and goes straight to her room, everything looks as if it hasn't been touched in months. She grabs her school bag and empties it of books, she throws in a book to read on the way there, a change of clothes, some painkillers, first aid kit just in case, a water bottle and food, finally she throws in her Eve plushie to comfort her. 

Madeline runs up the stairs to the roof and climbs into the chopper, she does her seatbelt up and braces herself for take off.  
"Where too, Miss Rogers?"  
"Take me to my father, take me to Germany."  
"Of course." The chopper takes off and she snuggles up with her Eve toy and book to try and calm herself down a little.

* * *

Madeline has the chopper land in a giant field, about half a mile out from the airport she tracked them to. She sees all hell has broken loose, there's some giant guy in the sky grabbing War Machine by the leg. Tony is in a new, fancier suit, Wanda is throwing people around, Nat is trying to fight people but is too busy being thrown around by Wanda. Clint is shooting arrows left, right and centre, there's a dude in a catsuit for some reason. Vision is, well, she doesn't really know what he is doing, Sam is flying around trying to distract someone.  
"Spiderman?"

She keeps running toward them, she can't see Steve anywhere though. Madeline ducks behind wooden crates so no one sees her, she watches as Vision spots something. Madeline follows where he is looking and spots the Quinjet, she is relatively close to it, only about half a mile from it. She sees them, her father and someone else, he looks weirdly familiar to her though. 

Madeline breaks out into a sprint toward them, she has almost caught up with them, neither of them has noticed her, they are getting close to the Quinjet. She wants to go with them, she only just got this family, she's not going to lose it over some petty argument.

"DAD!" She screams at him, he stops, dead in his tracks and turns to Madeline. The other guy keeps going until he looks at her and she recognises him, he's the guy who shot at the car and made it crash, everything comes flooding back into her mind. She stops running and just stares at the two of them for a moment, Steve looks up at something and Madeline sees the whites of his eyes.   
"MADDIE!" He yells at her, she looks up and sees the control tower is coming crashing down on them, Steve doges falling piece but Madeline won't make it.

She shields her face with her hands when she is suddenly yanked backwards and out of the way. She feels the wind in her hair before landing on her back, closing her eyes, she clutches her ribs as they hurt.  
"Oh god, I'm sorry, did I hurt you?" She opens her eyes again to see Spiderman crouching over her, that voice?  
"No, no, no. I'm okay." He swings away to take down the giant dude, Madeline leans against a crate behind her to catch my breath.

Madeline sees Spiderman swing around the giant man's legs, Tony and Rhodey fly upward and hit him in the face. He stumbles back, crushing a plane wing under his feet as he goes, he smacks Spiderman to the ground and into so crates. She gets up and starts sprinting toward him to make sure he is okay.

He is lying face down, Madeline thinks he was knocked out by the impact of the fall, she grabs him by the shoulder and rolls him over. Only to see someone she thought she'd never see in a million years here.   
Peter.


	13. Chapter 13

Peter.  
"Oh, hey... Madeline." It took him a moment to realise who it was but it only took a second for Madeline to go into shock. 

She can't breathe, everything just becomes a blur to her. Peter is trying to talk to her but she is slowly backing away from him, unable to talk or breath properly. As she is backing away she bumps into something, she turns around and sees Tony looming over her like she did that day.

Madeline rolls onto her back and sees someone stood in the doorway where she has just come from.  
"Ah, I see you are awake воин, I wanted to welcome you-"  
"Where the hell am I?" She just seems to grow a little frustrated, why did she call Madeline a warrior in Russian? How does she even know Russian?  
"If you'd let me finish, I want to welcome you home." A light turns on behind her and she stands out of the way, Madeline sees it, the same symbol from her keychain.  
"Welcome to Hydra." Madeline stares at the symbol in disbelief, how did this happen? How did they know the route they took? The women nods at a guard and one of them picks her up, he drags her across the floor. Screaming in pain, Madeline tries to fight back against him but she's not strong enough.

"Oh, don't worry, my child, we'll make you stronger and more powerful then they were ever going to be." She drags something along beside her as Madeline is dumped onto a metal table, she brings her leg to her chest as she clutches her hurting knee. Madeline's arms are pinned either side of her, some kind of straps are put across them and her legs are pinned in place before more straps are tied across her stomach. 

The women approaches her with some kind of liquid, a sky blue IV bag. She hangs it on a holder attached to the wall above Madeline's head before taking a needle out and plunging it into Madeline's arm. She winces at the suddenness of it, she watches as the blue liquid makes it way down the white tube, edging closer to her veins.

She closes her eyes and looks away, scared of what will happen when it enters her system, will it hurt? Will it kill her?  
"No, my child, it will not kill you. It will strengthen you." She opens her eyes and sees the women looming over me, her eyes glowing the weird green colour they were that day at Luna Park. Does she have powers?  
"Yes, I do, I can read minds. That is all, my child."  
"Why? Why do you keep calling me that?" She smiles and edges uncomfortably close to Madeline's face.  
"Because I am your mother. Hydra had kept a vile of Steve Rogers' blood post serum from the forties to recreate the serum used on him. They just had to wait for the right person to come along, me. See, as a child, I had been gifted with powers, the ability to read minds. When S.H.I.E.L.D found out they wanted to lock me up, have me be a lab rat. But I escaped, I made it to Germany where I bumped into a man named Baron Von Strucker, he helped me harness it. Control it, in exchange I said I'd help them, which, I did. You have met Miss Maximoff, they found something in my blood that helped the twins survive the experiments. They did more experiments on me and I fell pregnant with you fifteen years ago, I knew they'd want to do unspeakable things to you so I gave you up. Leaving you at the doorstep of the care home in Queens, tipping off Steve about you and kidnapping you was all part of a long-term plan." She leans back again, giving Madeline room the breath. She looks back down at her arm and sees her veins are lighting up green from the liquid. 

Everything jumps up suddenly, it feels as if her muscles are all tensing up, Madeline's heart pounds in her ribcage.   
"She's having a fit."  
"She'll be fine."

"MADDIE!" She snaps back to reality, Peter clutching her shoulders with Tony looking over him at her, Madeline realises she is trembling and crying uncontrollably. Peter just turns and looks back at Tony before they both say something before Tony flies away. 

She breaks free of Peter's grip, he grabs her wrist to pull her back. She turns to face him when he flies backwards through the air, he hits the concrete with a thud. Madeline stands still, her mouth agape in shock of what just happened.  
"Peter! I am so sorry, I don't know what-"  
"Madeline, it's fine. I'm fine." He holds her hand in his as he gets up.  
"Mr Stark wants me to take you back to Queens, we should find Happy so we can get a jet back to New York." She nods her head, retracting her hand from his and holding her own elbows. Just trying her hardest not to break down, Madeline sees Peter is wincing as he walks, they walk to the empty airport for Peter's belongings. He wanders off to get changed, leaving Madeline to stare at her hands, wondering what she did. She closes her eyes and thinks back.

She wakes up in a cold cell again, only this time she feels more at peace with it. She wants to leave but can't move, her body just isn't responding properly.  
"солдат."  
"Готов к выполнению." She doesn't even know what it is she's complying with, Madeline stands from the bed and follows the man out the cell. He leads her to a training room, padded walls and floors surround her. In the centre of the room are three brick crates, the lids are removed off of them and a match is dropped into one of them making a fire in the crate come to life. 

"Поезд, преодоление, контроль." Train, overcome, control. The three words that are going to haunt her forever, before she can even stop herself, Madeline is messing with the air around her. She creates tornados in the palm of her hands, she throws them across the room. She makes the fire spin out of control and accidentally burns a couple of guards, she makes waves flood the room, knocking some of the guards over and even killing one of them. She moves the earth around the room, making it suffocate a guard for a moment and making it as compressed as she possibly can. 

Madeline opens her eyes again as a door open and Peter comes out of the bathroom, she smiles at him as if nothing has happened.  
"You okay? You were wincing as you walked." He shakes his head and tries to sit down, only to wince and grab his side. 

As much as Madeleine may hate the idea of Spiderman being Peter, she has to help him, it's in her nature.   
"Just let me look." He sighs and lifts his shirt up, she feels myself tear up at the sight of a massive purple, green and yellow coloured bruise.  
"You have a cracked rib but I'm sure it'll heal. You heal weirdly fast, if it makes things easier, there's a chopper in the field, we can go right now." He nods his head, Madeline grabs his bag for him and leads him to the helicopter. As they get closer to it Madeline watches the Quinjet flies overhead, with Steve and Bucky in it. 

Sam, Tony and Rhodes all chase it in pursuit, she doesn't really care about them right now, just as long as she gets Peter back to his aunt in one piece. A sudden flash of gold flies across the sky, Sam dodges it by dropping a few feet out of the air. It headed straight toward Rhodes and it hits him. In the power core of his suit.

The suit clearly loses power as it falls from the sky, Sam and Tony forget about Steve and Bucky as the swoop down as fast as they can to catch Rhodes. Peter and Madeline stand in shock as we know neither of them will make it in time, Madeline runs forward, unsure of what she is about to do. Peter tries to stop her but fails. 

Madeline raises her arms, channelling something that she didn't even know she had, the dirt rises. She creates a pillow of sorts for Rhodes, to try and soften the blow, her head gets dizzy and her legs grow weak but she knows Rhodes could die so she pushes on. He is dangerously close to the ground now and Madeline only just manages to create a pillow of dirt for him, he hits it with a thud and she starts to fall backward. 

Peter catches her in his arms, he brushes some hair from her face and is trying to talk to Madeline but her eyelids are slowly dropping. She smiles at him before everything fades into darkness around her.

* * *

Madeline feels herself being scooped up by someone and carried somewhere, she slowly opens one eye and smells a familiar, calming smell.  
"Pete, what time is it?" She mumbles as she pulls on his shirt and snuggles a little closer to his chest.   
"Six-thirty in the evening, we just got back. Mr Stark'll be here soon to pick me up though." He smiles and lays her down, she realises that they are back in her apartment, he turns back to the door but she pulls at his wrist.   
"Stay, I don't want to be alone." He kicks off his shoes, climbs into the bed beside Madeline and wraps a strong arm around her waist. He rests his head in the crook of her neck, his breath tickling her neck. She slowly starts to properly wake up and put together everything that happened. Madeline feels a bubble of anger build inside of her, after everything that was said and done in front of Spiderman. He knew the whole time and didn't tell her.

She rolls over and faces him, he just smiles at her but it doesn't change how she feels right now.  
"Why didn't you tell me?" He just looks at her puzzled before sighing.  
"Because I didn't want anyone close to me get hurt, I am making enemies whilst out there and I just wouldn't know what to do with myself if something were to happen to Aunt May or you. I just thought I was protecting you."  
"What about all those times you came to visit me? You literally choose my outfit out for the day at Luna Park, that's kinda pervy to me." He goes a little red in the face and chuckles nervously.

"Madeline, Peter?" Tony walks in and the pair climbs out the bed, embarrassed by Tony's smirk. Peter collects his stuff up and Tony still smirks at Madeline.   
"So."  
"So."  
"You and - eh." He jerks his head toward the door, where Peter is stood collecting his things. She fiddles with her hands, looking down at her feet, she smiles a little.  
"Not a couple, just a couple of friends."  
"Wih a little extra spark." Madeline tries really hard not to laugh slightly but it's hard not to, Peter comes back into the room, pointing at his shoes.   
"I'll be waiting in the car." Tony leaves Peter and Madeline alone, Peter puts on his shoes whilst she sits on her bed. As he ties his shoelaces Madeline glances out the window, something catching her eye in the reflection of a window. 

She jumps as Peter takes her hands, which are now trembling a little, he sits next to her and just stares at her.  
"They aren't going to get you again, I promise. I will protect you, we have allies in Hell's Kitchen. They called themselves The Defenders, one of them was experimented on by the company who made some drugs that I believe were used on you."  
"I think we should pay them a visit, not now though. Tomorrow, you go back to your aunt now though, I'll get a proper nights sleep and text you." He just keeps staring at her and she stares back, his eyes dart down to her lips and she can't help but look at his too. 

Electricity runs across her waist as he places his hands there, she slips her arms over and around the back of his neck. Their foreheads touch and she feels his hot breath as it crosses her cheeks, she closes her eyes and feels his lips touch her own. A weird warming sensation spreads through her chest as we kiss, it's gentle but passionate, it only gets more so the longer we kiss. Peter slides his hands to her back and pulls her onto his lap, she tugs gently on the edges of his hair, making him moan and smile. 

They finally pull apart and stare each other in the eyes, Madeline bites her lip as an attempt to stop herself from smile too much.  
"I've been waiting for three months to do that." She smirks.  
"Really? I've been waiting for you to do that for five months, Parker." 

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK  
"C'mon Peter, we have to get you back to your aunt." Shit, the pair completely forgot Tony was waiting for Peter.  
"Sorry, Mr Stark. I'll be right there." Madeline gets off of Peter and he goes to her bedroom door, Madeline straightens her shirt out a little and follows not far behind him. He opens the front door and she stays standing in her bedroom doorway, he turns back and smiles. He looks as if he is about to say something when he is pulled backwards.  
"See ya, kid." Tony slams the door and Madeline runs to her balcony to see them get in the car. It takes a minute or some for them to come out the doors but they get into the back of a black car together and drive off down the road and into the night. They kissed, she can't believe it, they finally kissed. The warm sensation builds in her chest again, it doesn't fade either, the more she thinks about Peter the more she smiles and the stronger the feelings get.

Madeline lays on her bed, a cold breeze passes over my body as she left the balcony doors open. She stands up and reaches for the handle to close it but realise her hand isn't where it's supposed to be. She looks down at herself and realises she is completely invisible, she feels herself freak out a little and come back to normal. Everything was invisible, herself and clothes included, what the hell did they put in her?

Laying back down on her bed, she slowly drifts off to sleep.

* * *

Madeline is running, running to the Quinjet to try and stop Steve and Bucky. Everyone else is fighting behind her, she knows she shouldn't stop.

She is yanked back, she tumbles across the tarmac, grazing her knees and elbows. Madeline looks to see who yanked her back and sees it was Peter. He looks over her with an evil smile.  
"You're a monster. You're a threat to us all, you need to be taken out." He kicks her knee and she screams in pain as she tries to crawl away. 

He grabs her by the collar of her shirt and starts punching her, repeatedly in the face, she can't stop him. Every time she touches him she hurts him, Madeline decides to let him keep punching her so she won't hurt him, she could never hurt him, ever. The taste blood fills her mouth and she can feel her face swelling up the more he punches. 

"Monster! You'll get us all killed!" Tony joins him now, pinning her arms down either side of her so she can't escape. She screams at the two of them, neither of them stops hurting her, Madeline sees the Quinjet fly toward them and only then do they stop. She can't move and is in so much pain.  
"OPEN FIRE!" 

She looks and sees Steve in the pilot's seat, he smirks as he pulls the trigger, a line of bullet fire is heading straight toward Madeline. She shields her face with her arms just as she is hit with-

"Madeline." She sits upright, scooting away from whoever is there. She turns on her bedside lamp and meets Peter's dark brown eyes.  
"What are you doing here?" He sits on the bed next to her, he reaches to touch her but she flinches away. He retracts his hand and Madeline curls up into a ball, she feels tears start to stream down her face.  
"I was on my way home for duty when I heard you calling out." He points to the doors which she has left wide open.  
"Sorry I didn't mean to interrupt you." He just frowns at her.  
"It's not your fault." He goes to the balcony and Madeline follows him, he slips his mask back on as they go. Stepping over the barrier he extends his arm to swing away. Madeline grabs his hand and he turns to her, with his mask on so she can't read his emotion.   
"Stay. I don't want to be alone." He nods his head and comes back inside the apartment with her, he throws his mask across the room. Madeline sits on her bed, kneecaps under her chin, she can see Peter wants to comfort her but doesn't know how to. She shuffles closer to him and just envelops him a hug, he instantly hugs back. She cries into his suit and he just hugs her tighter to comfort her, she wipes her eyes before pulling away.

Peter brushes some hair from Madeline's face and she smiles at him, he smiles back and she feels the same weird sensation in her chest. Peter's eyes widen and she realises she has turned invisible by mistake, she thinks about something else for a moment to bring herself back to normal.  
"I can't control it." He just smiles and pulls her into his chest, he starts to strokes her hair gently as she falls asleep.

"It's okay, everything is going to be okay."   
Will it be though?   
Will it be?


	14. Chapter 14

Peter is taking Madeline to the other side of the city to meet these 'Defenders'. She is kind of scared to meet them, they seem very intimidating. Peter has to turn up in his Spiderman outfit as they don't know what he looks like.

Peter knocks on the door and a woman with dark hair opens the door, she looks between the two of them grumpily.  
"You're early."   
"We are half an hour late." Peter says blandly, she steps out of the way to let them through the doorway. She takes her seat behind her desk and pours herself an alcoholic drink, Peter and Madeline sit opposite her.  
"The names Jessica, Jessica Jones, I am a PI. Start from the beginning, do you know what drugs were used on you?"  
"No, there was this green liquid though. It was injected into me, I don't know when this happened though. I trained there, I have combat skills and... powers." She mutters the last part as she fiddles with her hands.  
"What kind of powers?"   
"I think I can control air and I can turn invisible." This makes Jessica sit up in her chair, she puts her drink down on the table with her arms leaning against the table.  
"Can you show me?" Madeline closes her eyes and think back to the kiss, the warm sensation that it made her feel, the way Peter makes her feel when she's around him.  
"What about the air powers?"  
"Well, I accidentally threw P-Spiderman a few feet back and I didn't know what I was doing. Then I had a sort of flashback and remembered what I was doing. How to use it. I just was throwing balls of water and fire around and making tornadoes in the palm of my hands." She makes a small one in her hand as Jessica and Peter watch on in amazement. 

"I don't think you and I went through the same thing. I have been trying to chase down IGH but found nothing. They have covered their tracks pretty damn well, I'll keep looking into it. In the meantime, just focus on control and getting better. I'll show you out." Peter and Madeline stand from their chairs and head to the lift. She feel as if she's stuck in a ditch all over again.

* * *

Madeline went back to school with Tony's permission, everyone asked a million questions each about where she has been. She came up with a clever lie, she said she fell down the stairs and smashed through a window, lost a lot of blood in the process. She lied to them about how she lost so much blood that she had to be put into a coma to save her. 

Peter told her that Ned knew that was a lie, he explained to her about how he needed help. He didn't want to push Madeline but he needed to know, how did she escape? 

Madeline pulled her sleeves over her hands as she spoke about that day. She was up at six-thirty like she had been trained to do, she trained with guards and some ex-Red Room trainers. She knows multiple different martial arts and had mastered espionage all at the age of fifteen. After training with the guards she got some free time to practice her powers. She knew this was the perfect time to do, she acted as she would normally, messing around with each thing placed in front of her. Trying to push herself more and more, she lifted a bubble of water into the air, she sent it down the throat of the nearest guard and into his lungs, drowning him. She repeated this to all the guard that she came across, none of them setting any alarms off because the last didn't. She stayed invisible as much as she possibly could have done to escape and it worked, she managed to get to the streets and realised where she was.  
Only two blocks from her apartment.

She knew this and also knew that she was a few blocks away from Peter's apartment and decided to go there. She told Peter all of this and he just held her hands to comfort her through it all.

She asked about Harry and Peter explained that his father died just weeks earlier and that Harry was in the process of taking over from his father. Madeline hasn't seen Harry for months, everything went back to normal - or at least as normal as they could be. 

Peter and Madeline started working together to fight crime in Queens, the rate if crime halved with the two of them working together. Peter came up with a name for Madeline, Aura, Latin for the word breeze. They grew closer in their relationship, making out on rooftops whenever they could and they started dating. They had movie marathons every weekend, most of the time it was rewatching Star Wars for the millionth time, every so often Madeline would open up a little more about what happened. She told him about the necklace being a tracker the whole time and that she now can speak fluent Russian and that her birth mother kidnapped her...

They enjoyed each other's company, little did Peter know that he was Madeline's coping mechanism, the way she would control her powers during the day would be to think of Peter. Little did Madeline know, however, that at the airport before she arrived Steve made Peter promise that he'd keep Madeline out of Spiderman stuff. Before he could question how he knew about that a passenger walkway was dropped on him and Steve ran off. It's killing Peter, he doesn't want Madeline anywhere near the vigilante stuff but he knows there is no stopping her, especially when he can't actually see her. 

It all came down to the last day of school before summer, it was the end of the year and all the students from their respective year groups gathered in the hall for a big assembly. They gave out awards for the different subjects and for whichever student did best in their yearly exams. 

As luck would have it, Madeline was chosen to help give the awards out on stage. She hated every second of it, she was stood there at the side of the stage, waiting to be called onto to stage. Only to look like an idiot. She scanned the crowd as she waited for her name to be called and spots two things she doesn't like the look of, Peter's chair being empty and Flash. 

Flash had been worse to Peter whilst Madeline was a way, he has been ruder and more violent to Peter. Some of the bruises Peter suffered from were from Flash pushing him around the corridor or up against lockers. Madeline knew none of this of course else she would have done something about it by now.

She stands at the side of the stage, watching as Flash and his friends snigger to each other before pointing to Madeline. She waits for Peter to actually bother to show up from whatever crime he is stopping, she hopes he is okay and not injured. She gives up waiting and calls him, only to her disappointment.  
"Peter? Where the bloody hell are you? It has started and I have to go on stage in a minute." Peter loved it when Madeline used British phrases like bloody hell or wanker, he didn't really know what half of them meant but he loved her accent.  
"First on Brawdway, second on Brawdway. Five minutes, ten tops." Madeline goes to speak again but hears sirens in the background.  
"Are those sirens?"  
"Gotta go, see ya in a minute - or ten." With that, the line goes dead.

"Here to present, the awards is Maddie Smith." She slips her phone into her back pocket before bracing herself to go on stage. She walks up the steps and braces herself for a whole load of embarrassment.

Meanwhile, Spiderman was chasing an Oscorp van that had been hijacked by a Russian gangster that had plutonium in the back. Spiderman managed to keep most pedestrians from being hurt and even saved a guy from being hit by a taxi. Nobody knows yet but this man would, later on, become a problem for everyone in the city, especially for Madeline and Peter. 

Peter had just stopped a bus with his bare hands, saving a father and daughter, not to mention everyone inside of the bus. His next job was to chase after the Russian gangster who had a stick of plutonium, he followed him and was shot at. Spiderman flipped and dodged every bullet before throwing his gun away and webbing the gangster's hand to the walls either side of him. To finish the job off, Spiderman took the plutonium, pulled his trousers down and threw the gun so it hit him on the head hard enough to knock him out.

Peter swang back to Midtown school and got changed just in time for his name to be called, he skipped onto the stage. Smiling at Madeline as he went and collected his award for the best team project, it was a double award for him and Ned. Madeline smiles in return but gives him a stern look at the same time, he knows she is annoyed with him and that all hell is going to break loose later on when she finds out about what he was doing. 

The ceremony ends with Peter and May meeting up with Ned and Madeline, May takes a group photo of the teenagers before they all head their separate ways. Madeline pulls Peter away from the group for a moment, with her phone ready in hand and a news report on it.  
"Those sirens didn't happen to have anything to do with Russians, plutonium and machine guns did it-?" Peter pushes the phone out of view, not wanting Madeline to find out about it.  
"Look - I'm fine, aren't I? Please - I'm sorry, okay. I am really sorry, it won't happen again, I promise." He rubs Madeline's shoulders to calm her down and she gives in and hugs him.  
"You break that promise I break your face." Peter chuckled at Madeline before she is called away by Vision who had a hoodie on to conceal his face to the world.  
"Remember, usual rooftop, eight o'clock. Don't you dare be late."  
"Wouldn't dream of it."

Peter knew he was making enemies out there and didn't want Madeline to get muddled up in it all, especially as she knows his true identity. He wants to keep her safe at all costs, even if it means breaking her heart.

Nobody knows the true identity of Aura or Spiderman except for each other and Tony Stark but there, of course, was no way to get to him as he was in his new facility upstate, looking for the fugitives. Harry needed to find him as soon as possible, his situation was getting worse. He would soon end up like his father, bed-bound for the rest of his days.

Madeline was on her way back to her apartment, Vision was called back to the facility so she was left alone. She didn't mind it though as she had time alone with her thoughts.

The lift doors open and she is face to face with Harry, she is scared at first but it shifts to being surprised.  
"Harry, I haven't seen you in so long. How are you?" She notices how empty the boy looks, his face is colourless and his skin seems dry.  
"I'm doing alright. I haven't seen you in a while either." I smile as I let him into my apartment.  
"Anyway, can I help you with anything?"  
"Yeah actually, I am here to offer you an internship at Oscorp industries over the summer."   
"Really?"  
"Yep, I saw your grades and I know you have potential that is needed at Oscorp. If you agree, you'll have an interview with me next Wednesday. Just wear something formal and I'll show you around the place." Harry slid Madeline a contract across the table and Madeline read through it briefly before signing it. Harry picked it up again, slipped it into his bag and headed for the door.  
"See you next Wednesday, Miss Rogers."

* * *

Madeline sat on the edge of the rooftop, letting the wind take her hair wherever it wanted to go. She jumps as a small thud came from behind her, she turns and faces Spiderman. Madeline only has a small mask that covers her eyes with a black sports top and black sports leggings compared to Peter's high-tech suit. 

Peter approached her sadly, knowing exactly what he was about to do.  
"Um, Madeline, listen-"  
"I have good news." Peter thought it would be better if she heard Madeline out instead of interrupting her.  
"I got an interview for an internship at Oscorp because of my grades next Wednesday. Sorry, I interrupted, what were you going to say."  
"Congratulations on the internship but I'm gonna be honest with you. Before you arrived at the airport, your father made me make him a promise."  
"What kind of promise?"  
"A promise to keep you out of this." Peter gestures to his suit.  
"And I can't get him out of my head, I see him everywhere I go. I can't... I don't know what to do. I promised him that I would keep away from you. And now I'm gonna come and fight crime with you. How can I do this? What does this make me?"   
"I don't know, what does that make you?"  
"It makes me not able to live with myself. What if something happens to you because of me? No, wait-"  
"Listen. No, n-"  
"Wait, wait! I cannot let that happen."  
"Listen to me. You're Spider-Man and I love that. But I love Peter Parker more. That's worth it to me."  
"I can't lose you too." Madeline knew what he was doing, pushing her away to keep her safe.  
"If because you can't lose me, we can't be together, who does that work out for, Peter?"  
"I can't. I'm sorry, Madeline."  
"Wow. You have done this to me again and again, Peter. I can't live like this. I break up with you. I break up with you." He had, he had done it before. He had tried to push her away for her 'safety' but Madeline is stubborn and wouldn't have it but that night she knew he was serious about it.  
"I break up with you." With that, she jumped off of the edge of the building and flew back to her apartment to cry. 

She hugged one of her pillows so hard that she thought she would burst it, getting barely any sleep that night, Madeline decided to hang her mask up for a little while. 

* * * 

Wednesday didn't come around fast enough for Madeline, she had to spend the entire week in her apartment alone, she only went out to get food and meet up with MJ once.

Madeline was dressed in a yellow suit jacket with a white blouse underneath and a pair of smart black trousers with her black Vans. She had her file she was given just a day before tucked under her arm, she had done as much research as she could have done in the space of a day.

She was actually running late for her meeting, she ran down the street and through the doors to the building. She stopped in the lobby as she looked for the lifts, a big creepy looking hologram of a woman talked about the new electromagnetic power grids they plan on putting in around the city. Just as she spotted one the doors were closing.  
"Oh, hold that! Can someone hold the doors?" Someone stepped forward and caught their fingers in the door for Madeline just in time.  
"Thank you, you're a real gentleman. Most people would've let the doors close." Madeline stands next to Max Dillion, an electrical engineer in the building and someone who was recused by Peter.  
"What floor are you going to?" Madeline flicks through her paperwork for a moment until she finds it.  
"Sixty-three," Max repeats it to the machine.  
"Sixty-three, please." The lift starts to go up a little faster than Madeline first expected.  
"I'm Max, by the way, Max Dillion."  
"I'm Madeline, I was called here by the man himself."  
"Nice to meet you."  
"Nice to meet you too," Madeline spots a birthday card in his arms.  
"Is it your birthday?"  
"Oh, yeah. My friends made this flyer for me. Throwing a big party, a lot of celebrities will be going. I'd love to invite you, it's just that the guest list is closed." Madeline keeps smiling, no matter how awkward she feels.  
"Oh, got it. Well, thank you anyway." A video clip from the news played on the screen in the lift, it was off Spiderman.  
"Most be so cool, huh? To have the whole world look at you like that?" Madeline feels a pit of sadness grow in her chest at the sight of Peter on the news.  
"Out of all the people in the city, he saved me. He said he needed me, can you believe it?"  
"Yeah. It must be a great feeling." Madeline just continued to watch the screen until the creepy woman came back again.  
"Sixty-third floor." Madeline walked out the lift turning back just as the door were closing.  
"It was nice meeting you, Max. Have fun at your birthday party." 

At this time, Peter was sat in his apartment, emailing an image of Spiderman that he had taken by setting up a rig, to a local newspaper to try to convince them that Spiderman is trying to help the city. He hit send on the email and within a minute he got a reply that simply said 'WRONG!!!', Peter slouches in his chair, upset with the newspapers for not believing him.

Max was prepared to go home, everyone who was leaving was crowded at the lifts. Eger to get home to their families and friends, Max especially as it was his birthday.

"Dillon you stay here." His boss stops him just before he got into the lift. Max was both hurt and confused.  
"What?"  
"There's a current flow problem in the lab. Take a look." Max is confused as to why he has to stay when no one else is, he just wanted to go home.  
"It's my birthday. Everybody else is leaving. Why do I have to stay?"  
"Because you're special." With that the doors closed in his face, leaving Max to go and fix the issue by himself.

"Bioelectrogenesis: The generation of electricity by living organisms to fend off-" The computer was broken, it just kept repeating the same thing over and over again.  
"Let's see what's going on with you. Hey, guys." Max walked to the computer screen, said his hellos to the eels.  
"At least somebody's partying." Max tries to fix the computer monitor but fails, so instead, he climbed to the circuit boards above to try and fix the issue. He spoke to himself, the fishes and the AI on the way up, as he reached the top he called for the sector to be shut down.

"Forget it, I'm out the door."  
"But, I'm up here and it's dangerous."  
"Sorry, Max."  
"Hello?" Max replaced his radio it's holder before reaching up to the circuit board.  
"Fine. I'll do it myself. And sing my birthday song too. This is crazy." He pushed the cable back together, at first nothing happened. Not until he pushed it back into its place in the wall.

Hundreds of volts ran through Max's body, he fell backwards with such force that he broke through the floor. He broke through two more floors before he landed in the tank with the eels.

The eels electricity, combined with the electricity that ran through the cables changed Max. With the eels biting him all over his body, Max exploded in a ball of electricity which caused the glass tank to explode too.

He was both killed and reborn that day.


	15. Chapter 15

Harry finally managed to get some time away from Oscorp to meet up with Peter. They decided to walk down the coast for a little while, passing a small fair as they went. 

They spent the time talking about what they'd been doing in the years that they'd missed.  
"I've been to Europe, Singapore, India. I've been all over the place, private school really lets you go anywhere you want to go."  
"I saw you." Harry is confused by what Peter means.  
"What? Where?"  
"I saw you in some magazine with some French supermodel. You know what I'm talking about?" The two of them slid down a handrail together.  
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Dude, that whole model thing is so exhausting." Peter put the back of his hand against his forehead before taking the mickey out of Harry.  
"I know." 

The two boys stopped at a rail that cut pedestrians off from the water's edge. Harry stared at Peter with a playful smirk on his lips.  
"What?"  
"You got a lady friend?" Peter smiled and awkwardly leant against the rail.  
"That's a question." Peter awkwardly climbed over the rail to Harry's amusement.  
"That's a question."  
"Woah, buddy."  
"I don't, no. Yeah, I don't know. It's... I don't know. It's complicated." Peter stared off into the distance as he thought about Madeline.  
"Yeah, I don't do complicated. What's her name? Who is she?" Peter smirked as he knew Harry doesn't know he had in fact met her before.  
"Madeline. Madeline Rogers." Harry's eyes widened, he couldn't believe it, he knew something was going on there. He just wasn't sure what.  
"She told me she had an interview with you the other day."  
"She's a model employee, she showed up on time with all the needed paperwork and more. C'mon, the beach is waiting for us." 

After Harry just as awkwardly climbed over the rail, the two boys stood on the pebbly beach together. Skimming rocks and talking about their pasts.  
"After my father sent me away, I tried to forget everything about this place. I guess that kind of included you." Harry's tone changed from annoyed to sorry.  
"It okay, you haven't gotta explain anything to me, we both got dumped." Harry also wanted to know and he knew Peter always wanted to know too but he also knew it's a touchy subject.  
"You ever figure out why your parents bailed?"  
"No. I try not to think about it too much."  
"How's that working out for you?"  
"Perfectly." Peter said this with a hint of annoyance and sarcasm. Peter picked up a small, flat rock and threw it as hard as he could, making it skim four times on the water's surface.  
"Dude. Nice arm." Peter realised what he had done and tried to cover it.  
"It's just the wrist. It's all in the wrist."

Just across the water sat a black van, with two Oscorp agents inside of it. They were monitoring Harry and Peter whilst flicking through pages of an incident report, a report on Max Dillon.  
"No known friends or associates to speak of. He's invisible."  
"Make sure this Mr Dillon stays invisible. Our stocks will crater if this gets out, not to mention that stupid child taking over the business from next year."

* * *

Harry had to leave Peter early so he could get to meetings and whatnot. Peter decided to stay at the beach and just watch the water for a little while.

As Peter was leaving, he got a call from Madeline, he was shocked at first but presently surprised all the same. 

When he came up from the subway where Madeline had told him to meet her. He scanned the surrounding area until he spotted her, he stopped and stared at her from across the street. For him it had felt like years since he'd last seen her up close, he had been following her to keep her safe. He just stared at her as he crossed the street without looking. Using his Spidey-senses he managed to not get hit by any cars, he puts his hand up to stop a truck.  
"Moron, get out of the road." 

Madeline hadn't spotted him, not until a truck driver started yelling, she turned to see it was, in fact, Peter that had caused it.  
"Hey-"  
"Hi-" The pair laughed and averted their gaze to their shoes. Peter missed so badly, her smile, her accent, just her presence around him.  
"Hey."  
"Hi." Peter couldn't help but stare at her, she was just as beautiful as she was a week ago when he last saw her.  
"You look amazing." Peter instantly regretted blurting that but Madeline didn't mind. She had missed him just as much, his touch, the feeling she got in her chest when he was around, she just missed him in general.   
"I'm sorry for the spontaneous outreach. It was kind of-"  
"It's okay, spontaneous is all right. You know."  
"Well, I just figured it was time. You know? That we try to be friends." Madeline wanted Peter back so badly, she didn't care if they were just friends, she needed him to comfort her and to help her. But she had a secret.  
"Yeah, friend, yeah. That's great."  
"I just don't want us to be complicated."  
"I was just saying to someone. I hate complicated."  
"Keep it simple."  
"Okay, great, great. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right." The pair started to walk, there were heading toward Time's Square.  
"If we're gonna be friends, I think we gotta establish some ground rules."  
"Some ground rules?" Madeline asked in a cocky tone, Madeline already knew he was flirting with her and she loves it.  
"Yeah, some ground rules. Like that."  
"Like what?" Madeline genuinely doesn't know what she's done.  
"That accent, your accent. That's off the table."  
"My accent is off the table."  
"Off the table, you need to do a different accent."  
"How about Scottish?" Madeline's Scottish accent was terrible.  
"That's still adorable."  
"That was not adorable."  
"It's adorable."  
"It was not adorable. Okay, I have a ground rule."  
"Oh, good. What is it?"  
"Don't tell me that I look amazing with your big brown doe eyes. Okay? I'm serious about that one." The pair stop at a tree in a secluded area where they can talk freely. Madeline ran a hand through her hair, Peter smirked and shook his head.  
"Oh, no."  
"What?"   
"I just figured out the next ground rule. No more of this." Peter ran his hand through his hair to show Madeline what he meant.  
"No more running your hand through your hair like that." Just to annoy him, Madeline did it again.  
"This?"  
"Don't think I haven't - hey."  
"What am I supposed to do when my hair gets longer?"  
"This is killing me. You're spitting in the face of my ground rules. I'm out." Peter turned and started to walk away from her.  
"Come on." He stopped and spun on his heels, making Madeline bite her bottom lip.  
"First we get ice cream and then I'm out."

Whilst Peter and Madeline were getting closer again, Max Dillon was on his way to Time's Square. He didn't understand what was happening to him, he can the electrical current that runs through everything. Cars, TV screens even the electrical signals that are fired off in a person's brain. 

He absorbed the energy out of cars as he walked to make himself stronger, he just wanted to be seen. To not be the invisible guy, he gave his plans for the power grids and he wants to tell people about it.

Madeline and Peter were still walking around, they talked about all sorts of things like how Madeline was now addicted to Delmar's sandwiches whilst eating ice cream.   
"Yeah, so I did that. I got completely addicted to Delmar's sandwiches, he keeps saying stuff in Spanish but I don't know what. I'm kind of worried, anyway, it's your fault because you showed me Delmar's."  
"Yeah. No. I know. You love it there, you go there a lot for lunch."  
"How do you know that? How do you know I love it there?" Peter couldn't meet Madeline's gaze that night, something he'd soon regret.  
"Because you told me."  
"I have only been going there more and more over the past week. Have you been following me?" Peter hid part of his face behind a nearby tree as he couldn't answer her.  
"I knew it. How often?"  
"Just once a day. Sometimes. Sometimes more." Madeline looks down at her hands and bites her bottom lip.  
"Oh, boy. Why? To make sure I'm safe?"  
"And..." Madeline waits for a response.  
"And what?"  
"And because it's the closest I can get to still being with you." Peter and Madeline both take a step forward and their foreheads touch, just as Peter goes to kiss her she reveals a secret.  
"I'm going to do volunteer work in Africa for the rest of the summer."  
"What?"  
"Yeah, it was Tony's idea and I agreed, I think it'll good for me to get out of the city for a little while." Madeline knew she was lying but she couldn't tell Peter the truth because she knew he'd drop everything and come with her.  
"I'd be building housing for the poor in Wakanda. It's between me and this other kid, I have to do an oral exam. He's like fourteen I think. It could be him, it could be me. I hope it's me and Tony wants me to go for it. If I do get it, I'll be moving to the Wakanda for a little while, I am so excited." Peter stood in shock, he was happy for her but sad that she'll have to leave if she got it. He was willing to go with her, to the end of the Earth.  
"Wakanda, that's-" 

Peter cut himself off as his spidey-sense picked up on something happening in Time's Square. The pair had managed to walk so far that they were looking directly down the road at Time's Square.  
"What? What is it?" Madeline stared down the road as well but couldn't spot anything. She and Peter kept staring before Peter disappeared, he left his jacket and bag hung up on a branch of a tree with his trainers on the floor. 

Madeline couldn't help but feel worried, she knew Tony was away, looking for Steve and the rest of the Avengers after they escaped the Raft so Peter had no backup. Madeline didn't have her mask so she couldn't help, even if she wanted to. 

Max opened one of the grates that lead to the electrical cables powering the whole of Time's Square. He grabbed hold of it and absorbed as much electricity as he possibly can.

The screens on the walls start to malfunction, they start to glitch from the loss of power. A police officer noticed Max clutching the cables and called out on his radio.  
"Station, I need a ten-eighty-five. Send out additional units to the south-end corner of Duffy Square." The officer starts to move people out of the way, making them go up the big red steps for just creating barriers for them not to pass.  
"Folks, could you step to the side? Get out of the way! Everyone get out of the way!" He pulled his gun from the holster and aimed it at Max.  
"Sir, get your hands away from the cables right now! Sir, get your hands away from the cables!" Max stood up from where he was crouched and backed away from the officer, afraid he would be shot at. 

He ended up backing into a road with a truck coming straight toward him, he raised his arms and shot beams of electricity at it, which caused it to float over his head and crash on the other side. 

A set of police cars surrounded him, Max was unsure of what to do, he never wanted to hurt anyone. He just wanted to be seen as an equal by everyone and not just the electrical guy from Oscorp.

"Get down on the ground now!" They screamed at him, he never wanted this.  
"Stop!"  
"Get your ass down on the ground! Now!"  
"It's not my fault!"  
"Sir!" Max tied to talk to them and tell them what had happened but they wouldn't listen. He looks all around him when he notices that his face is on every screen in Time's Square.  
"They see me. You see me." 

Police officers throw canisters of tear gas at Max's feet, he watches the vapour appear around him, unable to do anything.  
"Don't do that. Please!"  
"It's over, freak!" Max continued to yell at them with no response, he grew angrier by the second, he was knowingly making the canister spin out of control at his feet.   
"I said stop!" Max released a massive wave of energy sending both police cars and people flying through the air.

One office managed to outrun the wave but a car was going to crush him any second. The man trips and fall, he covers his head with his arms and braces himself for the impact of the car that never hit him. He opens his eyes and sees Spiderman holding the car above him.  
"I'm glad you're not one of those cops that rides a horse."

All the other police officers have opened fire on Max, he had somehow created a shield that destroys the bullets before they hit him.  
"All team members, hold your fire and wait for my call." Spiderman flips the car over and the officers yell at each other to hold their fire. Officers try to pull others out from underneath cars as Spiderman distracts Max.

"Hey Sparkles!" Max turned around and saw Spiderman stood on top of a police car.  
"Hey, how you doing?" Max is stunned by the fact that Spiderman is talking to him again.  
"It's you?"  
"Yeah, I know it's me. Who are you?"  
"You don't remember me?" Peter watched as he stepped forward, as he got closer to the grates he would release energy that could kill someone.   
"Should I?" Peter didn't want to seem rude but he just didn't remember this guy, at first.  
"I walked into the street, the taxi almost hit me. You swooped me up. You saved me, you said you needed me."   
"You're the guy with the blueprints."  
"Yes."  
"You're my eyes and ears, what's your name again?"  
"You don't remember?"  
"Don't tell me."  
"Max."  
"Is it Max?"  
"Yes."  
"I'm sorry I didn't recognise you with the - you look different. How are you?" Peter didn't know how to put it into words so he tried to change the subject.  
"I don't know what's going on with me."  
"I can see that and I believe you." Peter wanted Max to stay calm.  
"It's strange, the power I feel. I got so much... I got so much anger."   
"I can see that. I can see you don't wanna be here and you're scared."

Madeline had managed to push her way through the crowd of people so she can watch what's going on. With Peter's bag - and other belongings in it - on her back, she wanted to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid.

"I see you don't know what's happening to you. I can see you don't want to hurt anybody. It's gonna be alright." Little did Peter, Madeline or Max know, there was a sniper on a balcony, waiting to take the shot on Max.  
"I don't want them shooting at me." Max points to the line of police officers with their guns trained on him.  
"They won't. You guys, this is my pal, Max. I told you about Max, no shoots at Max!" Madeline instantly recognised Max's voice and facial features as the guy from the lift.  
"You and me, okay? It's just you and me talking. Stay right there. Just be careful. The grate, because of the electricity."  
"I just wanted everyone to see me."  
"How about you and me go have a chat. Away from all of these people, okay?" Max nods his head and starts to walk back into a puddle causing electricity to spark everywhere.

The sniper took his shot, he hit Max in the shoulder. Peter knew this was bad, Max grew angry and shot two beams of pure energy at the balcony. Which caused the sniper to be blasted back into the building behind him.  
"Max!" Peter shot a web onto Max's wrist but was blasted back into a police car when electricity shot down the line of webbing, which caused his shooter to blow. 

Peter spots a man stood under a billboard that was about to collapse, he shot a web with his good shooter and pulled him out before it fell on him. The crowd burst into cheers and started chanting "Spidey!", Madeline stood and watched, ready to fight at any point.

People started calling names to Max like "Freak!" or "Electro dummy!". This only made max angrier.  
"Shut up! You're so selfish." He noticed that all of the billboards now had Spiderman's face on them.  
"Max, stay with me."  
"You set me up."  
"No, I-I did-didn't." Peter was afraid, he was afraid for his life but most importantly the lives of everyone around them.  
"You lied to me."  
"No, I'm trying to help you. Let me help you."

Max fell to his knees, he grabbed the grate with both hands and sent a shockwave of energy through it. Peter flipped backwards, using his powers he made the police car flip as well. He saw that people were running up the big red steps, away from the car and electricity. He saw that a couple of them were about to put their hands on the metal handrail that was now alive conductor for the electricity. He saw people freeze in their place, unable to move.

He thought quickly, with only one web shooter working, Peter pressed his thumb against the shooter so the web split either side of him. The car was caught in a sort of net before it could hit anyone, Peter continued to flip and used a piece of web on either side of him to pull peoples hands away from the rail.

Everyone cheered, everyone except Madeline. The people cleared off of the stairs and Max built his powers up.  
"It's my birthday. Now it's time for me to light my candles." Max shot a beam of energy at Peter but he flipped and missed it. Peter pulled a fire hydrant out of the ground and swang it around but was hit with a beam of energy before he could properly release it. Never the less, it hit Max, which caused him to fly back as well and into a billboard. Peter smashed through a bus stop, knocking him almost unconscious.

Max watched from above as pedestrians run for their lives, he grabbed two electrical cables and absorbed all of the electricity before releasing it in a massive shockwave. Nearly all of the billboards that stood in Time's Square had started to fall off of the walls. Everyone but Madeline had started to run away, Madeline turned herself invisible and started looking for Peter.

"Do we have a visual on Spiderman? Does anyone have a visual on Spiderman?" Max shot beams of energy everywhere, no one was safe, no matter which direction they ran in. 

It wasn't until a fireman's hose was used to blast Max from the sky, did it all end.   
"Alright, that's enough. Mike." Peter held his hand out for the firemen to high five him. The police safely detain Max and he is ushered into the back of a van, not before he catches one last glimpse of Peter though.  
"Spiderman." He said, with his teeth gritted.

Madeline returned to normal and stepped out from behind a car, Peter spotted her and swung down to her. They stared at each other for almost a minute before Peter broke the silence.  
"Wakanda? Really?" A chunk of a billboard fell down and caused a small explosion behind Peter.

Madeline doesn't respond so Peter just walks away rudely.  
"Good talk."


	16. Chapter 16

As soon as Peter got back to his apartment, he took his suit off of his sore body. He walked to the kitchen to get something to eat and saw the news.

"Spiderman defeats creature in Time's Square!" Peter may not have liked them using the word creature but there was nothing he could do about it.

"Hey, how'd it go with Madeline?" Peter froze as he forgot he'd told May about talking to Madeline.  
"Yeah, it went, alright I guess. I mean we were interrupted by that but it went pretty well." Peter just wanted to keep everyone safe so he never told May about being Spiderman, at least not intentionally anyway. 

Peter grabbed some food before heading back to his room, he looked at his web shooter to check out the damage on it. He just dropped it on his desk and grabs his headphones, unable to do anything after screwing things over with Madeline the way he did. He played Ed Sheeran's Lego House as it matched his mood, Madeline had got him into listening to Ed Sheeran and he loved her for that. He curled up on his bed and just wept as he flicked through the photos he had of him and Madeline together. His eyes flicker up to the wall with the two photo frames on it, one of Peter, Aunt May, Uncle Ben and his parents and the other of him and Madeline together.  
"Did I have to lose you too?"

Meanwhile, up in Oscorp tower, Harry sits in his office alone with nothing but the news to comfort him. 

"Online Polls show a sudden uptick in public sentiment in favour of the web-crawler. Tonight, it would seem New York City owes him a debt of gratitude." Harry rolled his eyes at the dramatics of the news, he continued to pick at the first scar of many on his neck. He knew his condition was getting worse he just didn't know it would be this fast.

A sudden jolt of pain down his arm makes him drop the box with the words Oscorp Industries written across it on to the glass table. Harry knew this was a glass table, it was obvious to anyone, but what he didn't know was that it was a hologram table. 

Around the box was a set of spinning circles, each with a different chunks missing from them, making it look like the skyline of a city. Harry moved the box across the table and a menu appeared, Harry tapped on a file named Sub-Station Alpha and dragged it away from the rest.  
"Next Generation military body armour." The computer AI told Harry as he zoomed in on the picture of a green suit. The suit had multiple scale-like outer pieces to it with wiring exposed everywhere. The suit itself was perched on top of a glider like contraption, the computer AI continued to tell Harry about its capabilities.  
"Features include enhanced mobility, battlefield injury repair, direct nervous system interface." This peeked Harry's interest, if it could heal battlefield injuries, maybe it could heal him. 

Harry continued to flick through the different files until he found a video of Peter's father and his own father. He enlarged it so he could see it better.

"So the common household spider, um, unlike human cells, theirs contain the power to self-heal from a severe infection, tissue damage, et cetera. We've used a radioactive isotope with compatible human DNA." Harry sat in his seat, stunned, they had been experimenting with self-healing.

Meanwhile, back in Peter's apartment, May had left for her night shift as a nurse, leaving Peter alone. Just how he needed it right now, he was in his room with his laptop on Youtube. A video of an over-excited man talking about electricity played.

"Welcome to Dr Jallings Science Investigator. Today, we're going to be talking about electricity." Peter pulled out the cartridge that blew up during the fight and inspected it a little closer. Luckily, there was no visible damage to the web shooter itself, just the cartridge. 

"Batteries, insulators, electromagnetic currents." Peter set up a circuit, he had his web shooter at one end with a line of webbing coming from it, at the other was a battery, hooked up to a set of wires that he connected to the line of web and a charge reader.   
"Batteries can withstand a lot of incoming charges. The more powerful the battery, the bigger the charge it can withstand. But if the incoming charge exceeds the outgoing charge, the battery might explode!" Peter unscrews his light blub and pulled out the needed wire before clipping the jumper cable to the line of webbing. Ben had taught him how to rewire everything when he was younger. The battery instantly explodes and Peter jumped back a few feet.  
"I'm going to need a bigger battery." 

Peter went to the kitchen and collected all of the batteries he could find, he taped together ten batteries that were classified as being C batteries. Peter had the same set up again, only this time, he wrapped a blanket around himself to protect himself.

He reconnected the jumper cable and jumps back again as the batteries all explode.

Eventually, Peter gave up with using multiple sets of small batteries and instead went and got the car battery they had lying around. They had been meaning to get rid of it for a while, it was from May's car but it died so Ben took it as an opportunity to show Peter how to fix a car. Should he ever need to.

Peter clipped the jumper cable to the line of webbing and was thrown back a few feet. The battery exploded instantly which caused the line of webbing to catch on fire, Peter grabbed the fire blanket he stole from the kitchen and put the fire out instantly. The battery continued to fizz and smoke so to be on the safe side, Peter threw the blanket over the battery.

* * *

The next morning, Peter was curled up on his bed asleep after staying up the entire night trying to try and atop his web shooters from being blown up by Max.

Peter's phone started to ring so Peter shot a web at what he thought was his phone but was actually a piece of computer. He groaned when it hit him in the face and he shot another web that actually landed on his phone, he answered the phone without looking at the caller ID.

"Hello."  
"Pete, it's me.  
"Hi, Harry. What... What time is it?"  
"Uh, late, early - I don't know. I've been up all night. I need to see you."  
"You alright?"  
"Not really, Pete. I'm dying. But I think you can help save my life." Peter was instantly confused by what Harry meant by 'you can help save my life' and 'I'm dying'. Did he mean Spiderman? Or did he mean Peter himself?

Peter got up straight away and got changed into some fresh clothes. Still questioning what the hell Harry could've meant, Peter was even more confused when he saw Harry watching a clip of their father's together as he walked into his office.  
"You're looking at the world's first human-spider hybrids." Peter stares at the video of his father and Harry's father in confusion and awe, he hasn't seen or heard his father's voice in years.   
"The hope is to extract the venom from their glands and turn that into a cure. An agent that heals diseased cells."  
"And if I can be cured, imagine what this could do for other diseases like Alzheimer's, even cancer." Harry paused the video as Peter just stared longingly at his father.  
"They never made it to human trials." Peter knew straight away that Harry either wanted the spiders or Spiderman, he really hoped it was the first of the two.  
"Fourteen years of research and nothing to show for it. Except maybe this." Harry stood from his chair and threw a newspaper onto the table and Peter's suspicions were confirmed. He was after Spiderman.

"Spiderman."  
"What about him?" Peter acted dumb, he knew if he said one wrong word everything would be ruined.  
"What about him?" Harry sensed that Peter knew what he was on about and grew agitated by Peter's answer.  
"He was bitten by one of those things and it worked. I don't know how and I don't know why, but... he can do everything else a spider can, including self-heal." Peter knew Harry was right, he could self-heal, Madeline had seen it first hand.  
"I need to find him. I need his blood." 

Whilst Peter was thinking over everything Harry was saying, Madeline was sat at her desk. She unlocked her computer and open up the search bar for Oscorp Company Directory. Anything about the company, it's employees and stock shares could be found through this search bar but Madeline was looking for one person in particular.  
Max Dillon.

She typed his name into the computer and watched as the screen scans through the database with every employee's data on it.

"You need Spiderman's blood?" Peter had to sit down, he was so in shock of what Harry was telling him.  
"It'll save my life."  
"It may not, Har. It may not be that simple. You can't just set up a van and have him donate. I mean, I'm sure he's sensitive about-" Harry scoffed at Peter.  
"Sensitive, sensitive."  
"People shoving needles and... well, I don't know."  
"Wow. He's sensitive. Okay. Well then, maybe you could just sensitively tell me where he is and I will go ask him myself." Peter was even more confused than he was five minutes ago.  
"What?" Harry points to the small print on the bottom of the photo that read ' Photograph by Peter Parker'.  
"You took his picture."  
"So?"  
"You know him."   
"Harry, I took a picture from a long way away. I used a long lens. I don't know him." Peter tried to get Harry to remain calm but it is hard to do that when you friend is dying and just expects you to show up with a superhero on his doorstep.  
"I put together what you said at the river." Peter had to take a moment to think back to what he said.  
"What I..."  
"About how he gives people hope. Come on..."

Downstairs, in the security office, a flashing warning has come up on the computers. Alerting the security team the central server being accessed when it shouldn't be, one of the team is straight on it. Blocking access to the server for Madeline Rogers and stopping her search for Max Dillon.

On Madeline's computer, it came up as 'No search results found'. When she tried to redo the search, however, it told her the search was blocked and to contact the administrator.   
"What?"

Peter was still stuck in Harry's office, having no idea of the trouble Madeline was currently in.  
"Just say yes." Peter wanted to say yes so badly but he knew it could kill Harry if he gave up his blood or make his condition worse. 

Peter stood up from his chair and headed for the door but Harry grabbed his shoulder before he could get away.  
"Don't turn your back on me!" For the first time ever, Peter was afraid of Harry. He had been afraid of him once before when he was assaulting Madeline on a daily basis at school, he was afraid that he might lash out at her. Peter knew Harry had a temper about him and he didn't want Madeline on the receiving end of it.  
"I don't want to end up like my father, Peter. Please. Peter, please. I can't." Harry pulled Peter into a sudden hug and said a muffled "Please." against Peter's chest.

Peter gave in, he knew there was no convincing Harry otherwise.   
"I'm gonna try and find Spiderman." Peter walked back out the door and sighed heavily, unsure of what to do now.

Madeline was still at her computer, trying to find a way around the security only to be interrupted by the security team themselves.  
"Hey, what's security doing over here?" Madeline spotted three men in black suits try to be cover but fail miserably as they point to her. 

Madeline locked her computer again, collected her belongings up and grabbed a mug to make it look as if she was simply getting a drink.  
"Hey! Miss Rogers!" Madeline gave them the slip, she was walking across one of the big metal walkways when Peter spotted her from the glass lift he was in. He could clearly see from her body language that she was stressed and worried about something. She couldn't keep walking at the same pace, she'd walk normally before breaking out into a small jog for a few feet and go back to walking normally again.

Madeline pushed a glass door open before walking backwards down the corridor to see if anyone was following her. As she went she lost her footing and started to fall, she put her arms out to catch herself and closed her eyes but someone else caught her.

She opens her eyes to meet Peter dark brown ones, both of them felt relief at the sight of the other. Peter was first to break the silence between the two of them.  
"Hi."  
"Hi." Madeline just stared at him whilst her body burned at his touch and just how much she missed it.  
"What are you doing here?"  
"What are you doing here?" Madeline grabbed Peter's hand and dragged him to the nearest maintenance cupboard. He didn't take his eyes off of her for one second, she just watched through the glass in the door as the security team catches up with her. Peter looked through the glass as well and smirked at the sight in front of him.  
"She's not here. Check another floor." Peter smirked at Madeline as she bit her bottom lip.  
"You're in trouble."  
"Yeah, no shit Sherlock." Peter always loved Madeline's accent and the way it became stronger when she was sarcastic, which, was most of the time.  
"Who's that guy?"  
"There was an accident in the genomics lab and they're covering it up. And I found out. That guy from Time's Square last night? I met him. He was an electrical engineer in the building. And he loved Spiderman by the way. He was, like, a fanatic."  
"I didn't get a love vibe last night. I got more of a wants-to-kill-me-with-his-electricity vibe."  
"That's actually kind of what it's like to love you." Peter couldn't believe what he was hearing, if Madeline knew what it was like to love him, surely that means she loved him?

"I was searching for him in the computer system and all the files, he's erased. He's completely erased."  
"That's Oscorp."

"Why are you here?"  
"Harry."  
"Osborn?"  
"He's dying."  
"What do you mean?"  
"He's dying and he thinks the only thing that's gonna save his life is my blood, is Spiderman's blood. As far as I know, if I give it to him, it could kill him."  
"Or something worse."  
"I know." Peter rubs his forehead with his fingers.  
"This is the maintenance closet, Mads. This is the most cliched hiding place you could've chosen. This is the stupidest hiding place you could ever have gone for." Madeline liked it when Peter called her Mads, it was like his little nickname for her, her little nickname for him was Spidey-boy little did he know of course.   
"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't take us to the Bahamas of hiding places." Peter cuts her off before she went on a rant at him.  
"Listen, listen, I gotta talk to you about Wakanda, I guess-" Peter grabbed Madeline by the waist and pulled her in closer to him. 

Madeline's entire body burned with electricity as he kissed her passionately, she, of course, kissed back immediately but was still taken back by the sudden passion. Peter cupped the side of Madeline's face as they continued to kiss. For him it was long overdue, he just needed Madeline to balance everything out in his life again. He missed her touch and her gentle kiss.

They finally pulled away from each other and Peter was blushing uncontrollably whilst Madeline was shocked by his sudden kiss.  
"You just kissed me." Is all she could reply to the kiss.  
"I know, I'm sorry. I couldn't help it, how'd you like it?"  
"It felt a little rushed but other than that."  
"I know, I know. This is the plan, you get to the lift. I'm gonna distract him, okay?"  
"Okay."  
"Okay."

Peter let Madeline out of the cupboard first before he slipped out of it behind her. Madeline kept her head down, trying not to draw attention to herself, she walked to the lift and pressed the call button. Peter spotted the security guards coming down the corridor that Madeline had tripped and almost fallen in. He shots a web onto a nearby mug of coffee when no one was looking and walked straight into the guard.   
"I'm so sorry, I have just split a hot latte all over you-" Peter wipes the guard down but sticks his leg out, tripping the second guard up before throwing the rest of the latte in the third guard's eyes.  
"Oh no, you too?" Peter continues to confuse the guards by tripping them up more and trying to help them with the coffee in their eyes.  
"Miss! Stay right there!" Madeline smirked at the sight in front of her, the lift doors open and she walks in without looking away from Peter. She didn't see Harry stood in the back of the lift.  
"I'm sorry, I'm all thumbs today."

Madeline leant against the wall of the lift to catch her breath for a moment with her eyes closed.  
"Madeline Rogers."  
"Oh, my god." Madeline near hit the roof at the sound of Harry's voice.  
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."  
"No, it's okay. I was kind of rushing."  
"No, I'm-I'm sorry. I thought you two had broken up." Madeline tries to keep a happy aura around her but it was hard for her too.  
"Oh, yeah. Yes, we had. It's-"   
"It's complicated."  
"Complicated. Yeah."  
"I mean, it's Peter. Everything's always complicated with Peter." Madeline chuckles a little as she knew exactly what he meant.  
"Ha-ha-ha, yeah. Yeah, it's... yeah, you're right."  
"But that's why he needs you. Right?" Madeline could read the aggression on Harry's face let alone the amount of aggression in his voice.  
"To help him make his choices clear. Anyway, as you are now free, I was wondering if you'd like to go out with me sometime?" Madeline couldn't respond, she didn't know how too and she was too afraid too anyway.

Luckily, the bell for the doors dinged just in time and Madeline was able to slip away from Harry.  
"It was nice seeing you again, Harry."  
"Yeah, it was a pleasure, Madeline." There was something about Harry that made Madeline uncomfortable but she still could pinpoint what. Whenever she looked at him she could just sense a weird energy coming off of him, she knew he was different, in a bad way. 

The doors to the lift close again and Harry smashes his fist into the walls repeatedly, he was mad at her for not going out with him. 

If there was one thing Madeline knew for sure about Harry though, he has a shit storm of bad coming his way soon.


	17. Chapter 17

In the Ravencroft Institute for the criminally insane, stood a water tank with a metal frame in it. On that metal frame was Max, he was taken in by the police and Oscorp took him to the institute to "keep everyone safe", they just wanted to monitor Max's abilities. 

The doctor pressed play on his music and Beethoven started to play through the speakers surrounding the room. The doctor sucked in a deep breath before having the metal frame be removed from the tank and brought closer to him so he can see Max. The steam hissed as Max is removed from the water, the mechanical machinery whirring as it moves. 

Max opened his eyes as he came face to face with the doctor's glasses, he has had a power monitor - similar to the one Peter was using just the night before - engrained into his head. The doctor sets up the cameras and monitors around his head.

"You've been in a terrible accident. I'm Dr Kafka. I'm here to help you."  
"Course you are, doc." Max looks around the room and spots some technology, he knew exactly what they were doing or going to do.  
"That's why you're preparing military-grade biostim electrodes. High-intensity capacitors. The kind they make at Oscorp, all of this 'cause you're trying to help me."

"You are correct." Max didn't buy any of it for a second, he just grew angrier than he ever was before.  
"You are correct. I'm here to study you, to understand what you are, why you are and I will get results." Dr Kafka pressed a button on his control panel and Max groaned in pain as they send more volts flowing through his already throbbing body.

In the next room where a set of scientists, all monitoring Max for one thing or another. Some gasped as the results spiked almost off of the chart. 

"I always get results." Max is smart, he knows they'd do anything to get results from him, even torture him.  
"You do realise you locked me in a prison that runs on electricity. I can feel it in the walls. I can feel it in my veins. No matter what you do, doc, you can't contain it. It's a force of nature." Max was stalling to build up his power inside of him so he can attack.  
"Like me." Dr Kafka laughed at Max, which just made him angrier. Dr Kafka sends more volts through Max's body again, making him groan in pain again.  
"You want to know how powerful I am?"  
"Yes."  
"Well, so do I." Max tried to release as much energy as he could but Dr Kafka shocked him before he could release any of it. Through the pain and grunting, Max managed to say.  
"I'm dying... to know... doc. But you better make damn sure you kill me this time. 'Cause if you don't, I'm gonna kill the light, so everyone in this city is gonna know how it feels to live in my world." In the other room, alarms were blaring, alerting the scientists to a power overload.  
"A world without power. A world without mercy. A world without Spiderman or that bitch Aura. And everyone will be able to see me for who I truly am."  
"And who are you?"  
"Don't you know? I'm Electro." Electro's body starts to glow red and blue as he builds up power inside his body. Electricity began to spark everywhere, it even hit Dr Kafka's glasses which made them crack. The sensors collect the electricity that Electro was giving off, which caused some alarms to go off.

"Warning. Electrical restraint capacity reached. Initiate lockdown procedure immediately." The computer automated voice told the team.  
"Very impressive, Electro."  
"Lockdown initiated." The machine started to whirr again as Electro is plunged back into the water tank. The scientists go over all of the information that Electro, they smiled at their results.

Madeline arrived back at her apartment, tired from having to run from the security teams at Oscorp. She kicked her shoes off and flopped face first onto the couch.  
"Busy day, huh?" Madeline looks at the TV screen and meets Tony's very tired looking eyes.  
"Well, I got into trouble and had to outrun Oscorp security, I had a little help though."  
"Peter?"  
"Yep, anyway, how's it going, looking for my father and the rest of the team?"  
"Alright, we haven't found any new leads yet but we are working on it. So, how are the power couple of the year?" Madeline smiled sadly and laughed at his pun.  
"We... broke up, it's going alright between us though so, that's a plus I guess."  
"Sorry, you want me to come back to see you?"  
"No, no, no. It's fine, we'll be fine."  
"Well, don't hesitate to call." But she does and it costs Peter everything.  
"I won't."  
"I gotta go, I have good news on that trip we discussed though, you can go. So, we are going undercover so I won't contact you unless something happens, alright? See ya kid."  
"Wait, was that power pun intended?" Tony just smirked and signed off, leaving Madeline alone. 

She got up from the couch when she heard sirens go past the front of her building, she went straight to her mask and got changed. She turned invisible and jumped over the edge of her balcony.

Becoming invisible had become second nature to Madeline, all she had to do was think about Peter for it to work. Peter knew nothing of it though, he was told that Madeline just had to tap into a feeling or feeling a memory gave her, she refused to tell him what memory it was though. 

Madeline flew down the street at a rapid pace to see where the police would lead her, they lead her to a small jewellery heist. Nothing Madeline had not done before, at least anything she hadn't done alone.

Madeline flew straight to the doors, still invisible she hopped through the broken window. She walked through the store with ease, nobody could see her and she knew it. But what she didn't know was the criminals had heat vision cameras so they could, in fact, see her without her being there. It's the only reason they have been able to evade the police for so long, they knew where they were at all times.  
"Its Aura, open fire!" Madeline's head snapped around too late, she took a bullet to the side of her left hip and she instantly fell to the floor, she hissed through her teeth in pain. She touched her hip and could feel that something was either broken for cracked. Blood covered her hand as she crawled to find cover, she knew she couldn't do this alone but as she reached into her pocket for her phone, something hit her. She didn't have her phone on her to call for backup, she cursed herself under her breath as more bullets flew past her. Her only protection being, what was, a glass container with expensive rings in it that now had multiple bullet holes in.   
"For guys with heat vision cameras, they have shit aim."

She built up enough power in one hand and thrust it forward, hitting the container with all of her force, it flew across the room. It knocked all the criminals back like pins in bowling, Madeline got up straight away and started punching the criminals as hard as she could.

She managed to knock three of the five criminals out before she had to stop and rest, all that was going through her head was "where the hell is Peter?"

Peter was actually at Osborn tower with Harry. He thought he'd better tell Harry the truth as Spiderman that he can't have his blood.

"Mr Osborn." Harry wakes up from a long nap that was only supposed to last twenty minutes, he looked around the room for any signs of life but could see any.  
"Look up. I think you're looking for me." Spiderman lowers himself so that he is at eye level with Harry. Harry smiled brightly for the first time in weeks, Peter was right, Spiderman does give people hope.  
"I cannot believe my eyes, Spiderman." He was going to alright.   
Or so he thought.

Harry chuckled to himself as he got closer to the hero, he was still smiling like the fool that he was.  
"Just the man I wanted to see. You talk to Peter?" Harry poured himself a drink as a way of celebrating.

"Yeah. I want to help you, Mr Osborn, I really do, really do. After the way Peter spoke about you, I want to help you but I can't give you my blood. Not right now?" Harry was confused and agitated at first, he didn't understand why Spiderman couldn't give him his blood.  
"Excuse me?" Peter tried to keep Harry as calm as possible   
but it's hard to when you are condemning them to their death.  
"It's too dangerous. If our blood is incompatible you could die."  
"I'm already dying. Your blood can't make me dir more."  
"But it could do something worse." Harry started to understand what he meant now, he thought he wanted payment.  
"Okay. Alright, how much?"   
"How much what?"  
"How much do you want? Name it." Peter sat next to Harry in complete shock and sadness, his best friend since childhood was willing to pay a 'stranger' for their blood that could potentially kill them.  
"You want a boat? Do you want a plane? Do you want money? How much do you want?" Peter could clearly see that Harry grew angrier by the second and Harry got madder at Spiderman for not giving him a straight answer.  
"I don't want your money."  
"Come on! Everybody wants money!" Harry was on the edge of losing it, Peter knew that from second-hand experience.

When they were growing up together, Peter knew Harry resented his father for trying to sen him away and when the papers finally came through, Harry lost it. Peter had to watch as his best friend of six years, at the time, threw object after object at his father. Peter even had to step in to stop it, Harry had picked up a glass bottle and was going to throw it at his father. Peter went to grab the bottle from Harry but ended up getting hit in the face with it, he is now missing a small chunk out of his right eyebrow due to a small scar being there.

"I don't, I don't want your money."  
"I thought you... I thought you were supposed to save people. I thought that's what you do, you save people's lives." As Harry said this, Peter's senses perked up, he knew something was going down in Queens. The police sirens could be heard from the tower. Peter stood from the chair he was sat in, he was getting ready to leave. Harry grabbed the bottle of alcohol he was drinking, getting angrier.  
"You're... you're just gonna let me die." Peter approached the open window he came through in the first place.  
"I'm trying to protect you right now."  
"No, no, no. You are not. You're trying to protect yourself."  
"Look, we just need a bit more time to figure out something else."  
"I do not have time!" Harry threw the bottle past Peter's head and it smashed into a wall behind him, a small shard of glass ricocheted and cut Harry's face.  
"I'm sorry but I can't help you." Peter shot a web out of the window and swang towards the where the sirens went. Harry tried to stop him but failed, he smacked his hand against a wall multiple times.  
"Dammit! You're a fraud, Spiderman!" Harry threw stuff all around the room as he released his anger.

Meanwhile, Madeline was still pinned down by two of the criminals, she had to call the police off as they were just being taken out one by one. She was trapped in the back corner of the store, with another cabinet in front of her that was just being blown apart by gunfire. She was too weak to move from the bloodloss, let alone use her powers.  
"AGGH."  
"OOF." Madeline looked over the top of the cabinet only to see a flash of red and blue, followed by a familiar 'thwip' sound. Relief washed over Madeline as the gunfire stopped and she heard a pair of footsteps come her way.  
"Spider-" Madeline stops midsentence as a gun is trained on her head by one of the criminals.  
"'Fraid not-" The criminal fell to the floor as Spiderman came into view.  
"Are you - oh my god." Peter stood in shock at the sight of Madeline with a pool of blood around her.  
"Hiiiiyyyyaaa!" Is all Madeline could say, it was an awkward situation for the both of them, Madeline didn't like Peter seeing her like this. Peter hated seeing Madeline being hurt but he knew he had to help her up.

"You did not just say 'hiiiiyyyyaaa' to me," Madeline smirked and groaned as Peter helped her up, she tried to walk but she was in too much pain. Peter decided it would be best if he picked her up fully, he scooped her up in his arms bridal style. Madeline blushed as he did but didn't complain, she just kept applying pressure to her wound. 

Peter carried her to a nearby ambulance to get checked over, it ended up taking almost forty minutes for Madeline to be fixed up enough for her to go home. She refused to go to the hospital so they had to clean the wound, remove fragments from the bullet and her chipped bone before they stopped the bleeding and wrapped it up. Peter watched from the outside of the van the whole time, he made sure none of the press were trying to get photos of Madeline like this.

Peter helped Madeline get back to her apartment safely, she was still too weak from the blood loss to fly so he swung her to the top of her apartment building instead.

She turned invisible and dropped onto her balcony with a thud and a groan. She hopped into her apartment and could hear the TV ringing, which told her that someone was calling her. She took off her mask and threw a hoodie over her shirt before she grabbed a blanket. She laid on the couch with the blanket covering her legs and feet before answering the phone.

Madeline pretended to be tired as if she'd just woken up, Tony doesn't buy into it for one second, he'd seen the news.  
"Hey, Tony. I was just napping-"  
"How bad is your hip?"   
"What-?"  
"I saw the news, what the hell were you thinking? You went in by yourself?"  
"I know, I should've waited for backup but the police were completely pinned down. How was I supposed to know they had heat vision cameras?"  
"Have you seen a doctor?"  
"Yeah, it's all bandaged up. I'm going to be fine in a few days time."  
"You look extremely pale, how much blood did you lose?"  
"I don't know, like a litre or something. I'm fine, I just need to rest."  
"Good, do rest. No more vigilante stuff until that's healed, okay?" Madeline rolled her eyes and put a mocking tone in her voice.  
"Yes, mum."   
"I'm serious, remember you have that meeting tomorrow about your summer volunteer work." Madeline nodded her head.  
"Yeah, see you when you get back?"  
"Yeah, see ya kid."  
"Bye." 

* * *

The day of Madeline's meeting came, she was both nervous and excited about it. She wanted to go to Wakanda so badly, she was needed in Wakanda by Kind T'Challa himself.

Madeline was told to wear smart-casual clothing, but because she wasn't a hundred percent sure what smart casual meant, she decided to go with an off the shoulder yellow shirt, a black pair of skinny jeans, a pair of black ankle boots with a black handbag that she hated. She was more of a backpack kinda girl.

She walked toward the Wakandian outreach centre, it was in a council building. Madeline kept going over everyone's names and her little speech she had written. She was speed walking as she was running late, she would have run or flew but she was still too weak to use her powers and her hip was too sore.  
"Hi, I'm Madeline, it's great to meet you Shuri. I believe I should go to Wakanda because I know what it's like to be homeless and I want to make a difference-"  
"Oof!" Madeline span around on her heels just in time to catch Peter hit a wall face first. He had swung over to her but missed his landing point and hit the wall instead, Madeline tried her best not to laugh but she couldn't help it. Peter took a moment to regain himself before he spoke with her.  
"Hey! Hi."   
"Hi."  
"Hi, I got to talk to you for a second."  
"Look, I am running late right now." Madeline continued to walk down the street, going as fast as she could without agitating her hip too much. Peter followed her in pursuit but Madeline wasn't listening.

The pair walked into the building together, Madeline ahead of Peter who was still trying to get her to listen.  
"No, no, no. Just gonna take a second."  
"I can't. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Peter "   
"I got to talk to you. Just give me one minute. I just want to say one thing and then I'm gone. Everything's a mess."  
"Shh."  
"I got to figure out what I'm gonna do with Harry because of course, I want to save him. You know? I want to save him 'cause he's my best pal." Madeline nodded along with everything he was saying because she wanted him to speed up with what he was saying.   
"And wh-what if my blood works? But what if it doesn't? I don't know. I got no idea. Ugh." Peter put both of his hands on his face because he was having a crisis in front of the girl he liked, no loved.  
"Oh, god."   
"I got nothing. I got nothing. I know. The only thing I keep coming back to, Mads, is..." Peter took in a deep breath and sighed deeply but before he could say what he wanted, the pair were interrupted by the princess of Wakanda herself.   
"Miss Rogers. I'll take you upstairs."  
"I'm so sorry, I am so sorry. I'm already late. Uh, can I have just one more minute?"   
"Okay." Madeline was shocked by how laid back Shuri was.  
"Thank you." Madeline turned to Peter and started to whisper to him.  
"Where are we? I have to... This is my interview for working in Wakanda right now." Peter suddenly felt bad for disrupting her interview.   
"Wakanda. I didn't know. Yeah. Okay well... I'm sorry, my fair lady, but, um - your highness?" Peter stumbled over his words as he didn't know how to address Shuri properly.  
"I am one of the young workers in Oxfam, we have been trying to get her to work for us, to be apart of our team for a while now. She is the best person for this job, I have seen her working in the past, best work ethic I have ever seen and a scientific genius." Peter turns away but Madeline pulls him back by his arm.  
"Can you just wait for one second? Peter. Pete. What did you just say to me? What's the 'one thing'?" Peter takes a deep breath in and scans Madeline's body for the last time.  
"I have to go to Wakanda, Pete. It's important to me." Peter just continued to stare at Madeline, unable to say what he wanted to say.  
"I mean, I don't know. Maybe we're just- maybe we're on different paths right now. You know? I don't. Maybe we're just... going different ways. I don't know." It hurt Madeline to say this just as much as it hurt Peter to hear it, she didn't want to leave him but she had to.  
"I have to go. I got to go." Peter nodded in response, trying not to cry at everything she just said.  
"Mads." Madeline turned back to his sad face, she hoped he wouldn't say anything else on the matter and she was grateful when he didn't  
"Good luck." He put both thumbs up in an awkward fashion, Madeline grinned in response before speaking with Shuri.

"Hi, follow me please."

"Sorry about that." Madeline followed Shuri to a stairwell, looking back one last time at Peter before disappearing.


	18. Chapter 18

Peter went straight back to his apartment and sobbed uncontrollably into his pillow. He never did get to say what he wanted to say to Madeline, he knew she was leaving for the summer but he wanted to tell her so badly that he loved her. He wanted her to know so she would have someone to come back too, Peter knew that Tony was away on Avengers' business and he wasn't getting any replies off of Happy. He just wanted to make sure that she came back to someone who cares about her and will be here for her. But with the way Peter and Madeline left things, it looks as if Peter may not be able to tell her that until she gets back, in two months time.

His mind raced with ideas of her meeting someone else whilst she was over there, what if they were better than Peter? More attractive, smarter, funnier? Would Madeline just forget everything that ever happened between the two of them for this new person? Would she ever come back to Peter?

Peter hated the idea that this was it, that there was nothing he could do about it. He wanted to do something about it, he just didn't know how to. Instead, he threw his suit on and focused on something else. He left his phone behind as he went.

Up in Oscorp tower, Harry was in his office with another glass of alcohol, this was his second bottle of the day.  
"Mr Osborn?" His personal assistant had gotten close to Harry after she was promoted above the rest of the board members.  
"You all right? Is there anything I can get you or...?"  
"No, not unless you can bring the spiders mt father and Mr Parker were working on for twenty back to life."  
"Spiders?"  
"The ones they destroyed 'to... to restore investor confidence.'. My father had worked on them for twenty years, they could have helped heal him and me but instead they were destroyed for the sake of the company and what investors think. Go home, Felicia. Take the day off." Harry walked to the window and leant against it as he drunk his whiskey as the sun started to set across the city. No matter how hard the company tired, Harry would always find some form of alcohol to drink.

Felicia thought back to something she had overheard one of the security guards saying about something to with the spiders.  
"Harry. I think there may be another way to get what you are looking for." Harry turned around to face her as she continued to tell him.  
"I overheard Menken talking with one of our security heads. Before they destroyed the spiders, the venom from them was extracted."   
"What?" Harry didn't understand what she was saying.  
"What are you saying?"  
"That way, they could comply with the lawsuits but still keep the data in case it ever became useful." Harry grew hopeful for a moment, he could've actually been saved f he could find it. He held onto that glimmer of hope as hard as he could, he wouldn't rest until he had found the venom and saved himself.

"Where is it?" He put his hands on the top half of Felicia's upper arms gently, to not scare her as he was a few inches taller.   
"It's somewhere in the building. Somewhere off-books called 'Special Projects'."  
"Thank you." Harry went straight to his desk, he unlocked the box of files on his desktop. He opened a search bar and tapped in 'Special Projects.'.  
"Special Projects." Kari repeated as Harry flicked through the pages of files. Above all of them read the words 'APPROVED BY HARRY OSBORN', Harry didn't recognise any of the projects in the files and he certainly didn't approve any of them.

"Accessing Ravencroft Archive." Harry dragged some of the files out of place to see what each of them were and he was horrified by what he saw.  
"Max Dillon Experiment? What?"

He dragged 'File 713' out and sat in horror as he watched a man, a worker for the company, fall into a tank full of eels right before the tank itself exploded with electricity.  
"What the hell?" Harry rapidly flick through the clips and files until he found a short video clip. The clip was a close up of a man's face, he had blue skin with vibrant blue eyes. Harry could clearly see under his skin that electricity flowed throughout his body as he could see it as it was flowing through his veins.

Harry dragged the files out and made it bigger so he could see it better.  
"File 71. Subject: Dillon, Max." Harry watched as Max explained his plan to take over the city.  
"And then I'm gonna kill the light, so everyone in this city is gonna know how it feels to live in my world. A world without power. A world without Spiderman."

The video was suddenly cut off, which made Harry jump back in his chair a little. An image of Kari appeared on the screen with a bright red banner above her head that read 'WARNING'.  
"Warning. Your user access has been revoked." Harry sat back in his chair, frustrated. Frustrated that someone had taken his access to the system away just as he was finding out what the company was really doing. But he was frustrated at the fact that someone had been doing illegal experiments on someone, someone who had an accident due to the stupidity of the company and the selfishness of others. He was frustrated that someone was passing these experiments off as being approved by him, he knew this had been done on purpose to throw him under the truck and get him fired.  
And he was right.

"He's busy. You can't go in there." Felicia tried to fight with the security guards but it was no use. They barged right past her without even looking her way to get to Harry.  
"He's busy." Harry got up straight away, the man who caused all of this was in front of him.  
"What did you do?"  
"The more relevant question is what did you do? An employee is killed and in your first action as CEO, you cover it up." Harry grew angry at him, he was the one who covered it up but put Harry's name on the file. He wanted Harry out of the picture so he could take over, no questions asked.  
"No, you covered it up. And then you buried him in the bughouse using my name."  
"Ravencroft is a timeworn institution devoted to mental improvement."

Harry approached him with such anger on his face that other security guards jumped forward and restained him.  
"You are experimenting on people in there."  
"Progress has its stepping stones. Now, in light of your deceptive criminal actions, you've been - well, how do I put this gently-? Fired." Harry knew he was trying to bury him along with Max.  
"You are not going to bury me too."  
"Looks to me like you're halfway in the ground already." he gestures to the infection on Harry's neck.  
"It's only a matter of time, Harry. You're going to die a horrible death. Like your father. The only difference being, no one is going to miss you." Harry had been pushed over the edge, he dove at the man only to be restained by the guards. He was almost animalistic in the way he was acting, he was growling and tried to bite people.  
"Get him out."  
"Wait, wait. I know my way out." Harry had a plan.

After he left the building he went straight to the Ravencroft Institute in search of Max to help him take down Spiderman and Oscorp in one go.

When he arrived at the institute, he watched another car go through security with ease before the security guards stopped him. Harry rolled his window down to speak with the guard at the gate.  
"Can I help you?" Harry tried to play it cool, using his fame as a way into the building.  
"Uh, yeah, you can open the gate. I'm Harry Osborn. Now, there's a patient in that Isolation Wing that I need to see." The guard nodded his head, gave the signal for Harry to be let in and apologised to him for stopping him.

Once inside, Harry was shown around the place, meeting some of the workers there as he went. The entire time he played it off as being a visit to a patient when he had a plan to ruin Oscorp and take back his name and his life.

"Joe, this is Mr Osborn of Oscorp." The guard at the door instantly spotted that Harry wasn't wearing the needed badge to go through the door.  
"I can't let anyone past this point without a yellow badge, sir, I'm sorry." Harry nods his head before snatching the man's taser from its holder on his waist. He tased Joe enough so that he would fall to the floor unconscious and repeated the process to the other guy who wasn't fast enough to grab his own taser.

Harry walked through the large, bunker-like metal door. He saw spare lab coats and facial masks hung up in a small changing room, he grabbed them and put them on. He walked past Dr Kafka as he was telling guards to.  
"Keep Electro incubated with four-hundred milligrams of sodium thiopental and phenobarbital..."

Harry took the mask off of his face and spotted a fire alarm on the wall across from where he stood. He walked to it and set it off to make everyone evacuate the building, leaving just him and Electro behind.

Harry runs toward where they Electro was kept, he stripped off the lab coat as he went. Harry saw electro was in mid-air with a lot of sedation tubes going into him. He ran over the control panel and turned Electro's sedation off.  
"Psst." Electro opened his eyes slowly, the drugs they had just been pumping into his body still had an effect on him.  
"I'm gonna get you out of here. Alright? but we don't have much time."  
"Who are you?" Electro's voice was deep and rough sounding like he hadn't had a drink in days.  
"I'm Harry Osborn. I want to make you a deal."  
"I should kill you."  
"C'mon. Think bigger, Max. I'm not the one you want, you want Spiderman." Harry was manipulating Max into doing his dirty work, Max never realised it though because no one had ever needed Max before, not like this at least.  
"And I can give him to you. But I need something first. I need you to get me into Oscorp"  
"Get you in? You own it." Harry laughed manically.  
"Not anymore. Oscorp betrayed us both, so I can't get in there without you and you can't get out of here without me."

Meanwhile, in a security hub on the upper levels, Dr Kafka demanded to know what was going on.  
"What's happening?" He looks at the monitors and sees that Harry has somehow gotten in.  
"Someone pulled an alarm in the Iso Unit, doc."  
"Get the containment team up there now."

Max was still hesitant about joining Harry in his quest of destroying Oscorp and Spiderman.  
"You couldn't possibly know what I want."  
"You submitted the design for the grid and they stole it and now you want it back." Harry kept looking over his shoulder, he expected the security teams to arrive at any moment.  
"You just want to take back what's yours."  
"How?"  
"It is all the power in the city, Max. And it's right under your fingertips. And then once you shut down the grid, Spiderman will come to you and I want you to make him bleed."

Security teams ran down the corridor toward the Isolation unit, ready to shot to kill. Harry heard the glass shatter and the footsteps of the heavily armed men as they come down the stairwell.   
"Max, we don't have much time!"  
"Give me one reason why I should trust you."  
"Because I need you!" This instantly caught Max's attention.  
"You need me?"  
"Yes. I need you. You are my only chance that I have at surviving."  
"You need me?" The security teams had breached the room but Max was still hesitant.  
"Yes. I need you. Please. Please." Harry leant forward and managed to tase Electro in the leg before he was violently dragged away by the security teams.  
"Please! I know what it's like to be thrown away! Please, Max! I need you! I need you!" Max started to yell before disappearing into the cameras and sensors around him without a trace. Harry was hit in the face by the but of a gun, he fell to the floor from the blow.

A sudden explosion of multiple small bolts of electricity hit the guards in the face, it killed them instantly. Harry struggled for a moment whilst getting up from the floor, I blue light blinded him as it materialised in mid-air.

Electro used electrical currents that naturally occurred in the air to disappear and reappear on command. Harry smirked slightly as he watched Max appear in front of him. Dr Kafka was the only one who survived being shocked, it was down to the fact that the bolt missed his heart and hit his stomach. He got up and tried to run for it but Electro stopped him by sending hundreds of volts through his body, Dr Kafka started to float off of the ground in an electric hold. Electro didn't kill him, however, not like that anyway.

Dr Kafka was stapped to the frame like Electro was just minutes earlier, with electricity stinging him the say way it did to Max before he was plunging into the water tank.   
"N-no!" Harry smirked as he watched the doctor be tortured.  
"Want to be my friend?"   
"I thought we were already friends, Electro." Harry got a little to close to Electro for his comfort, a small spark of electricity hit Harry in the hand.  
"I had a friend once. It didn't work out."  
"Yeah, me too." Neither of them knew that they were, in fact, talking about the same person.  
"Then let's go catch a spider."

Peter got back to the apartment just before May got home from work. Whilst still in his suit his phone went off, he picked it up and saw that it was voice mail contacting him.   
"You have one new voice message." Peter clicked the accept button and pressed his phone to his ear, he expected it to be a call from Aunt May telling him she'd be late. What he didn't expect was Madeline's voice.

"Hi, Pete. It's me. Uh... I'm in, I am going to Wakanda for the rest of the summer. Woo-hoo! It's very exciting, I came by your apartment a little while ago and I, um... uh, you weren't there. So, I am on, on my way to the airport right now, T'Challa wants to see me there personally so I'm going tonight, something about moving there permanently, I don't know. Somehow, I thought by getting the private jet there, that it would be easier, I guess. I think that, maybe, it's time to let this go, to let us go. And that's not because I don't love you, it's actually because I do. So, um... goodbye, Spidey-boy."

Peter started to well up at her words, she loved him but was leaving as he listened to her voice.

Whilst Peter was struggling with his emotions, Oscorp security were having issues with their power.

The head of security went straight to the CEO's office to get him out of the building.  
"We have to move."  
"Why? What's happened?" A sudden spark of electricity come from the chest of the head of security before Electro materialised behind him. The CEO stood from his chair, knowing exactly who was in front of him.

"Remember me?" With the flick of his fingers, Electro made his desk fly across the room and hit the window. Harry strutted into the room with a smug grin on his face.  
"Oh, my. How the tables have turned. I know it's hard to admit but how spectacular a move is this? Am I right?"  
"Right as rain."  
"Okay, so, Fairy Godmother, it is time to grant me a wish. I want into Special Proj-"  
"How dare you come back in here? You recalcitrant, unworthy, defective, urchin freaks!" Harry nodded at Electro and he stopped the man's heart.  
"Oh my god! I'm sorry! That's just not the answer we were looking for." Electro walked over to the man's body that was slowly fading from life whilst Harry whistles. Harry takes the gun from the head of security's gun holster as Electro rubs his hands together to make a pair of defibrillators to shock the man back to life.  
"Clear." Electro touched the man's chest and he sprang back to life again, Harry aimed the gun on the man.  
"Welcome back to the bonus round. Hey, let's take a walk, shall we? The grid is all yours." Electro takes the opportunity to travel through a plug outlet.

Harry walked the man to the lifts, he kept the gun pressed to his back whilst concealed from the other workers at the same time. He watched as the CEO typed in a special sort of code to access the 'Special Project' floor in the building.

"The spider venom. Give it to me." The walls of the room lifted up, revealing different pieces of technology or chemicals. He walked Harry to the spider venom, Harry commanded him to load a vile of it up into a needle.

"It won't work. We ran every diagnostic test, apart from human trials." Harry took his jacket off to make an easier access point.   
"You've actually already run human trials. You're just too stupid to know it. Do it. Now." The needle was plunged into Harry's arm and all hell broke loose inside of his body.

At first, it was just laughing uncontrol until he fell to the floor. He dropped the gun and the CEO made a run for it, he set the alarm off as he went to try and contain Harry.

Harry himself was on the floor, groaning in pain as everything in his body was on fire. He ripped his shirt off and crawled across the floor to get to the high-tech next-generation military suit he learnt about in his father's file. He continued to groan in pain as his fingernails grew at an inhuman speed and his naturally brown hair turned greasy blonde.

He climbed into the metal green suit, the suit readjusted itself to Harry's body and nervous system. The screen on his right forearm flashed red, which told Harry his injuries where critical. The healing protocol was automatically activated and he had never felt stronger.

But he had changed, he wasn't Harry Osborn anymore, he was now the Green Goblin.


	19. Chapter 19

Madeline is sitting in the back of a taxi, waiting for the traffic to move so she could get out of New York faster. Every second she stays longer than needed, she would go over the idea of staying in her head, again and again. 

She had only just managed to stop herself from crying, she hasn't heard back from Peter but she didn't really care at that point. She just wants to get out of the city and away from Peter. She stares at the photos of her and Peter together, she smiles at them before she slid them back into her pocket again.

Cars in front of her honk their horns as the traffic just doesn't seem to be moving anytime soon. To pass the time, Madeline stares out of the window and watches the people pass her by, she counts people who wore red shirts but only got to four before she is interrupted. 

"It's Spiderman!" Madeline's head snapped to the driver to see where he is looking. She shuffles over to the seat next to her to try and a better look. What she saw stuns her.

Across the side of a bridge, Peter has written the words 'I love you, Mads' in webbing for Madeline to see. She could instantly feel her eyes well up at the sight of it, no one had ever done anything like this for her before. No one had ever even said they care about her properly, Peter was the first to do all of that and he did it in the space of six months. It's the main reason Madeline fell in love with Peter, he wasn't afraid to show his emotion.

"Stop the taxi."  
"Lady, I ain't even moving." Madeline climbs out of the car and weaves her way through the traffic on the road to get to the pedestrian walkway. She stares at the message as the webbing glints in the light of the setting sun, she can't help but smile and laugh at it like a lovesick puppy.

People stare and take photos of it, having no idea what it means and who it is meant for. Madeline watches as a figure came out of nowhere and swooped her off of her feet.

Peter takes Madeline to the highest point of the bridge she was just standing on.   
"Hi."  
"Hi." Madeline holds on very tightly to Peter as she is very scared of falling off of the bridge.   
"Did you get my message?" Madeline plays dumb and gives him a sarcastic answer to mock him.  
"What message?"  
"The message over there." Peter takes his mask off and points at the other bridge.   
"Oh, that. That was you?"  
"Don't do that." Peter has his arms around Madeline's waist, he didn't want to let her go ever again.  
"I couldn't make it out."  
"I'll tell you what it says. It says, 'I love you.'. Because I do, I do love you Mads. And no offence but you're wrong."  
"I'm wrong about what?"  
"About us, you're wrong about us being on different paths. We're not on different paths. You are my path. And you're always gonna be my path, screw the Avengers." Madeline is shocked but happy by what he said, Madeline knows that becoming an Avenger is a dream of Peter's. She knows how badly he wants it, hell, she knows how badly Peter has been pestering Happy about missions. She knows it is extremely important to him so, to hear him say those words was amazing to her. To finally hear someone say they'd give up on everything for her was a dream come true for her, all she'd ever wanted was for someone to say they care about her so much that they'd be willing to drop everything for her. 

"And and I know there are a million reasons why we shouldn't be together. I know that. But I'm tired of them. I'm tired of every single one of them. We've all got to make a choice. Right? Well, I choose you. So, here's my thought. Wakanda. Both of us, I mean they have to have crime over there, right?"  
"Tons, probably." Madeline has to wipe her eyes for a moment from crying some much.  
"If not I guess they could always use someone to lift the heavy stuff. Right? I mean it'd not like Captain America is hiding out over there. I am following you now. I'm just gonna follow you everywhere. I'm just going to follow you the rest of my life. What do you say?"

In response, Madeline pulls Peter in for a passionate kiss, Peter raises his arms to her back to support her as they kiss. Like any other time they'd kissed, both of them feel explosions erupt in their body. Madeline was electric, she loves the tingling sensation that crosses her body as they touch. Peter was like fire, everything burned but in a good way when they kissed like this, he was never going to let her go again.

As they kiss, something was happening to the city behind them. It is a complete and total power failure. All the power to the entire city is going out, sparks fly from different buildings and transformers. The entire city was being plunged into darkness. 

Madeline and Peter pulled away from their kiss as they could hear people scream and sparks fly. Madeline looks at the power grid straight away, knowing that a power failure could only be caused by something going wrong on the grid.  
"What the hell is that?" The two of them stare in disbelief as Max explodes from the pipes of the electrical grid.  
"Is that Max?"  
"He must have cut the power to the whole city."  
"Please tell me there's a blackout plan, right? A backup power plant or something?" Madeline thinks back to the grid specs Harry showed her when she first joined Oscorp.  
"There's an emergency rest at the power plant. If he cuts the transmission lines, they're never gonna get the power back again." 

"How am I gonna stop him? Every time I get close to him, he fires my web shooters?" Madeline's brain instantly goes into scientific mode, she knows she can't use her powers yet.  
"Have you tried grounding them?"  
"Yeah, I tried everything. Rubber, plastic-"  
"Did you try magnetising them?" Peter feels a wave of stupidity cross his mind as he realises he missed he missed magnetising the shooters.  
"I did not try magnetising them."  
"Okay, well. If you magnetise a nail with a battery-"  
"It holds an electric charge."  
"Yes."

Peter and Madeline swing down to the nearest police car together.  
"Remain calm! Everyone return to your vehicles." Madeline and Peter land behind the officer and run to him.  
"Officer!"   
"Spiderman!" The officer had single-handedly managed to deafen Spiderman temporarily.  
"Woah!" Peter stumbles back a little bit as he covers his ears.   
"My name is Madeline Rogers, daughter of Steve Rogers. I was told the police have my picture from when I went missing."  
"Yeah, I know who you are, what can we do for you?" Peter was still trying to get his balance back from the ringing in his ears.  
"Jumper cables."  
"Jumper cables?"  
"Yes and copper wire." Peter manages to get his balance back but he still can hear properly, walks to Madeline and starts yelling.  
"Am I talking louder than I usually talk right now?"  
"Yes."

The officer rushes off to get the cables and copper wire for the pair whilst Peter and Madeline prepare the shooters. It only takes five minutes for the officer to have his car set up with the jumper cables and copper wire.  
"Your suit will ground you."  
"Alright, hit it." The engine revives and sparks fly off of the jumper cables as the electricity comes into contact with the copper wires.  
"Okay, good."  
"Try it." Madeline reaches into her pockets for something before realising she hasn't got anything on her except the photographs of them together.  
"I don't have anything." Peter suddenly remembers the ring he has for her.  
"Try this." He hands Madeline a rose gold ring with five leaf shaped jewels stemming off of it.  
"What is- is that a ring?" Madeline  
"Yes, I won it for you way back when we went to Luna park together. I was gonna give it to you a minute ago but the power went out so-"  
"Peter it's fine, let's try it." Madeline presses the ring against his right web shooter and it sticks.  
"Okay, it works, good."  
"And that is why you are number two at Midtown."  
"Rub it in. Okay."

A sudden explosion of sparks snaps the pair out of their flirty moment, much to the dismay of both of them.  
"I need to go." Madeline stands in the way of Peter as he tries to make a run for it.  
"I'm coming with you."  
"Mads, you're not coming with me."  
"Yes, I am." Neither of the pair listens to the other as they continue to bicker about who's going where.  
"Mads, it's too dangerous."  
"I've seen the grid specs and I know how to reset the entire system." Peter gives in but instead decides to stick her hand to the police car's bonnet.  
"Alright, okay."  
"I'm coming with you! You know you need-" Peter put his hand over her mouth so he can speak for one second.  
"Okay. Okay. Okay. You are coming with me. Shut the thing." Madeline grabs the car bonnet to close it but Peter shoots a web onto her hand so she can't move.  
"Sorry, I love you. Don't hate me, please don't set your father on me either!" Peter swings away toward the power plant, leaving Madeline to try and pull her hand out from the web.  
"PETER!"

Meanwhile, all hospital and airports have all lost power. At the airports, all communication is offline. There is no way to speak with planes that are leaving and ones that are coming to New York. The workers write down everything they remember about the planes coming and going.  
"Sir. There are two inbound flights on intersecting paths." Everyone in the airport control centre starts to panic because if those planes crash a hundred or so lives will be lost.  
"Time till impact?"   
"Four and a half minutes."  
"Clock it. Clock it right now." The worker grabs a stopwatch and starts it. 

In the hospitals, doctors and nurses are doing their best to save people's lives, it's hard when you have been plunged into darkness with no backup generators to help you out.   
"They gotta work with us here. We still don't have generators. Get me engineering!" Aunt May is working in one of the hospitals, she was meant to leave just minutes earlier but with the power going out she decided to stay to help out. She is holding a patients hand as they struggle to breathe properly.  
"I need a respirator right now." May runs across the room to nearest one, luckily they are battery operated so a power outage won't affect them. Two things were going through her mind, the safety of the patients and Peter's well being. 

Peter was currently swinging towards the power plant, hot on Electro's heels after him. For fun Electro was making pieces of buildings come crashing down and making cars flip over to freak people out.  
"Do you see me now, Spiderman? It's time to meet our destiny."

Peter landed on the old clock tower that stands just outside the grounds of the power plant.  
"You're too late, Spiderman. I designed this power grid, now I'm gonna take back what is rightfully mine. I will control everything. I will be like a god to them." Peter spots the hydro pump just below him, he knows that Max's weakness is water if he can douse him with enough water he can take him down.  
"A god named Sparkles?" Peter instantly regrets saying that as Max shots a beam of electricity at Peter.

"Oh, crap." Peter jumps just before the beam hits him and lands perfectly on the pump. He shots a pair of webs onto the pipe, he pulls with all his strength which breaks the pipe. Peter aims the water at Electro but he makes it evaporate by blasting pure energy at it.  
"Not this time!" The beam breaks through the jet stream of water and hits the pipe Peter was sitting on, Peter is thrown back into a brick wall as the hydro pump explodes.

Peter is straight back on his feet as he knows Max can't see him, he swings around from behind him and kicks him to the side, causing Max to grunt.

Electro shoots at the smaller towers as Peter flips from one to another, Peter flips and sticks a web to a piece of broken tower. He throws it with all of his strength at Max causing him to roll back in mid-air. Peter propelled himself forward by sticking a web on two towers either side of him and pulling back on them.   
"Is that the best you got? C'mon, Spiderman!" 

Max and Peter went flying through the air before crashing down onto the broken concrete below.  
"Are you ready to give up?" Max held Peter in a choke hold before trying to electrocute him to death. Peter kicked Max off of his chest and into the air.

Electro tried to get away but Peter stuck two webs to his chest to stop him. Electro saw an opportunity, he didn't know that Peter had magnetised his web shooters. Electro grabs the webs and sends an electric current down them, expecting it to bust Spiderman's shooters but it doesn't. 

"Oh, thank you, Madeline!" Peter grabs the webs and flicks Max over his head, making him slam face first into the ground. A small electrical explosion is given off, blasting Peter back but also shocking him at the same time.  
"Shake it off, like your girl Taylor says to. It's just your bones and your muscles and your organs." It takes Peter a moment to regain himself.

Electro travels from one electrical tower to another to the tune of Itsy Bitsy Spider. Every so often he would run into Spiderman, catching him off guard and sending volts of electricity through his body. Electro throws Spiderman about in the air like a ragdoll, he catches him mid-air with four pulses of electricity on his wrists and ankles. 

"Spiderman, bet you never saw this coming." A sudden gust of wind throws Max across the grid, leaving Peter to faceplant onto the floor.

An angry Madeline isn't far behind the gust of wind, wiping her bloody nose as she goes, wearing the ring Peter gave her.  
"Really? You webbed me to a car? What are you a caveman?" Peter stumbles and trips as he gets up, it takes him a moment to realise who is in front of him.  
"You shouldn't be here." Peter grabs her by her coat and pushes her behind him to protect her.  
"You tie me up to go off to war? I know how to help you!"  
"What are you doing here?" Peter keeps a watchful eye on Max, just in case he tries to surprise the two of them.  
"I know the grid specs!" Peter yells angrily in response, having no words for her stupidity.   
"I can reset the system!"  
"Hey. You can't be here right now. I'm not messing around. You can't be here now. This is insane, Mads." Madeline grows angry at the fact that Peter doesn't think Madeline can handle herself.   
"Okay, guess what. Nobody makes my bloody decisions for me, alright? Nobody! This is my choice. Okay? My choice. This is mine." Peter gives in and sighs whilst trying to push Madeline as far away from the fight as possible.

"Now, how do we stop him?"  
"Okay, so he's electric. He's like a battery. So what happens is you overcharge a battery?"  
"It explodes."  
"Right."   
"So we use his power against his. Perfect. Okay."  
"I think I can reconnect the power lines, I need you to rest the system. Okay. When I say, you turn the power on. You have to turn it on, no matter what." Madeline turns to walk away but Peter still grips her wrist.  
"Peter-"  
"No matter what."

Electro jumps back to life just as Madeline walks away and into the control tower. Peter turns to face Max but all he can think about is Madeline's safety and the promise he made to her father. 

Madeline skips up steps as she runs to the main control centre, she listens to the sound of the electricity buzzing outside. The door swings open to the control room and Madeline has to take a moment to compose herself. There are burnt dead bodies laying on the floor, each of them smouldering still from the heat. 

Madeline spots the master reset switch but sees that it has a padlock on the case. She looks at each of the workers until she spots the key hanging off of the man's hand. 

With only sixty seconds until the two planes collide, Madeline and Peter have to work fast. Peter is flipping over all of the towers as Max explodes from them. Peter uses debris to hit Max as he gets closer to the powerlines.

Madeline unlocks the master reset switch as she waits for Peter's signal. Peter momentarily webs Max up to stop Max from shocking him. With the strength that he has left, Peter shots webs onto the open power cables and pulls. Max has broken free from the webbing holding him, Peter hasn't quite managed to pull the webbing together. Max sends two beams of electricity at Peter.

Madeline watches in horror as Peter falls to his knees, still pulling at the webbing. He slowly pulls it together, struggling to tie it off as he does. When he finally ties it off, he yells at Madeline.

"Now! Maddie! Now! Do it now!" Madeline hesitates for a moment before pulling the switch with all of her strength. The electricity makes Peter's webs glow orange with heat. Peter aims the centre of the web, where he ties it off, at Max. Max starts to absorb all the electricity, making Peter be blown backwards by the force of it. 

Madeline watches as Max absorbs too much energy and overloads himself. His once blue skin turns to a dirt brown, to Madeline it looks like the ground when a drought has hit. Max suddenly explodes with static energy, causing Madeline's hairs to stand on end.

The planes managed to be diverted just in time, about ten seconds before they collided to be accurate. The workers in the control tower celebrated with hugs and cheers all around.

In the hospital, doctors cheered as they moved patients back to their rooms and reset machinery. 

The whole of the city had power again and the threat was taken care of. Or so Madeline and Peter thought. 

Peter gets up off of the floor, he can see on the inside of the suit that the wiring is completely fired. Nothing Tony couldn't fix.   
"I think we still make that private j-" Peter cuts himself off when he hears maniacal laughing, he looks up and sees a glider, a green one. On board that glider is a man in a green suit that Peter instantly recognises to Harry. Only one thought passed through Peter's mind.

"Harry was coming after Spiderman and Madeline is going to be caught in the crossfire."


	20. Finale

Peter stood in horror as he watched a boy who was once his friend fly around the towers as a monster.

"Mads, stay there." Madeline froze on the spot, she knows she isn't strong enough to use her powers fully yet. Blasting Max back the way she did drained her of any extra energy she had, she is powerless. However, she saw this as an opportunity to put the backup plan in play, a plan that she knows will hurt Peter. 

Harry glides around so his in between the pair but facing Spiderman. He snarls Spiderman before looking behind him to see who the other person is, as soon as he sees it's Madeline, it doesn't take long for him to put the pieces together. Peter Parker is Spiderman. 

Peter knows what he what he is doing but has no control over the situation, just as long as he Madeline out of there alive.   
"Peter. When you said Spiderman said no, you meant you said no!"  
"Harry, what did you do?"  
"What you made me do." Madeline stands a few feet away from the glider, she slowly edges back toward the doors of the control tower. Harry jerks his head toward her to watch her from the corner of his eye, Madeline freezes, as if she is looking at a Weeping Angel from Doctor Who. Harry turns back to Spiderman with an evil smile on his face, he has a plan.

"You were my friend and you betrayed me!" Peter wants to keep Harry as far away from Madeline as possible to keep her safe and he wants to keep Harry calm.   
"No. I was trying to protect you."  
"Hahaha, look at me."   
"It's gonna be okay. This gonna be alright."  
"You don't give people hope. You take it away."  
"No, Harry."  
"I'm gonna take away yours." 

Harry swung around on his glider faster than Peter expected, Harry dives straight for Madeline.  
"No! Madeline! Run!" Madeline runs for the door but doesn't make it in time. Harry grabs her around the waist and carries her bridal style into the air, Peter is on his heels. Swinging from tower to tower, reaching the same height as the glider. 

"Harry put her down!" Madeline clings onto Harry, scared he'd drop her at any moment. Harry laughs maniacally as he swerves in and out of the electrical towers to try and throw Peter off. 

Harry circles the clock tower, getting so high in the sky that Peter runs out of places to web onto. Peter climbs onto the top of the tower and shoots webs at Harry but he is moving to fast for Peter to be able to latch onto the glider.

"Harry, stop this right now! This isn't you, Harry! This is not you! Harry, put her down!" Madeline is clinging to Harry for dear life.  
"Harry-"  
"Harry is dead!" Peter draws Harry's attention back to himself.  
"Harry, this is between you and me. You want to fight? Fight me! Let her go!" Harry sees this moment as an opportunity but Peter and Madeline see this moment as the moment his heart stopped.

"Okay." Harry lets Madeline go, she falls toward Peter. Peter jumps to meet her halfway, they crash through the glass roof of the clock tower together, landing roughly on Peter's back. The pair landed on a metal walkway.

"Are you okay?" Madeline could not believe what he just asked her, she was far from okay.  
"Nope." Something drops beside them and starts to beep loudly. Peter rolls over just in time before the bomb goes off, shielding Madeline with his body. The walkway where the bomb landed is blown apart, causing Madeline and Peter to roll over unintentionally. Madeline falls off of the edge but Peter just catches her hand in his, she is panicking now.

"I got you, Mads. I'm gonna put you down right here." He drops her on the clock mechanics to keep her out of the way. Madeline wobbles as she tries her best to keep her balance on the moving parts. 

Peter fights Harry just above Madeline's head, Peter flips, punches and shoots webs at Harry to stop him. Nothing seems to be working, Harry is still on his glider so Peter tries to use that against him. Peter shoots multiple webs across the tower to try and catch Harry in one of them, Peter balances on them and flips off of them to try and catch Harry but it's not working, it is slowing him down but not enough. 

Madeline jumps from one piece of gear to another, she is trying to get to the nearest walkway so she can get help for Peter. With Tony still being away, Peter had no backup but if Madeline could get to a pay phone she could call his emergency number. 

Peter propels himself into the air before kicking Harry in the chest on his way down, it doesn't phase Harry, however. Peter tries to take Harry on, he holds a piece of webbing around Harry's neck to try and choke him out. Harry just pushes Peter into a wall so roughly that he breaks through two layers of brick. Harry tries to catch his breath again and Peter uses this to his advantage. He kicks Harry across the tower before using one of his webs to spin around and kick him in the face. Harry falls from his glider and hits a metal pole face first. The glider faces down and takes out the gears Madeline was standing, Madeline screams as she falls but Peter catches her wrist on a web. 

Harry jumps on Peter's back and holds him in a choke hold, Peter manages to roll over so he is facing Harry. Stomping on Peter's wrist, Harry is trying to make him let go of the web hold Madeline up. The gears of the clock continue to move, cutting a piece of metal pipe as they do, Peter knows that it'll cut through his web like paper. Harry tries to stab Peter in the face but Peter dodges it and holds Harry's arm back so he can't move it. Peter headbutts Harry as hard as he can to try and throw Harry off, which, it does. 

Harry tries to surprise Peter with his blade again but Peter just sticks his hand to a large cog. Harry grabs Peter by the throat but Peter sticks a web on the back of Harry's head and sticks it to a cog nearby, as the cog moves, it pulls Harry by his hair. 

Peter looks down at Madeline to see that web is dangerously close to being cut by another cog. Peter jams his foot into the mechanics in a hope to stop the web from being cut but it wasn't enough. 

Peter holds it for as long as he can, the gears moan under the pressure. Madeline has no idea about what going on above her, she knows Peter is completely preoccupied with Harry. Madeline reaches into her pocket and takes out the gift from Shuri, Shuri gave her the small black button as a backup plan if she couldn't get to jet. Madeline explained to her about how she knows Spiderman and if something were to go down, how he may need her help. Shuri gave Madeline the tracker to call a Quinjet to wherever she is, Madeline hadn't thought to use it until now. She didn't want Peter to know the real reason as to why she is leaving New York. After everything was said and done on the bridge, Madeline didn't want to leave Peter behind.

Madeline was going to call the Quinjet after they got down from the bridge to see if Peter could join her but Max got in the way. 

The gears continue to moan and click as Peter does his best to keep the gears from breaking apart and making Madeline drop to her death. Harry tries to break free from the web but it is simply too strong for him, Peter struggles to keep everything from breaking but it isn't enough.

One of the cogs come out of place, causing the one Peter was trying so badly to stop, to cut the line of webbing. Madeline shrieks as she starts to fall, Harry is yanked backwards and off of Peter, he slams his head into a wall which knocks him unconscious instantly. 

Peter dives off of the edge of the gear he was on to rescue Madeline, everything seems to go in slow-motion for the pair. Madeline is thinking about her father and Peter, the rest of the Avengers and how they would react to her death. She didn't want to die, not this young at least and for someone who just professed their love to her to witness it first hand as well? This was a literal nightmare for Madeline, the day she is told she is loved is also the day she dies. She closes her eyes and thinks back. 

Back to all the good memories of Peter and Steve she has. The day Steve took her to the cinema to see The 5th Wave and as they were leaving Steve had to break up a fight whilst Madeline watched, she found it funny how Steve could just pick the guys up with his bare hands. She thinks back to the day at Luna Park, she remembers the feeling she got when Peter won her the Eve toy. She touches the ring on her index finger, the one Peter had only just given her. She remembers their first kiss, in her bedroom together just staring into each other's eyes. She thinks back to the feeling she got from it, she wanted to savour it one last time before she dies. She smiles as she opens her eyes and sees the photos have come out of her pocket. 

Peter watches as she falls, edging closer and closer to the ground. He doesn't know what to do, what if she dies today? Will her father come after him and blame him for it? Peter thinks back to when they first met when Harry brought her to his apartment for the first time. How he thought she was absolutely beautiful and couldn't take his eyes off of her for one second and then when he found out about her loving Star War everything felt natural to him. He thinks back to her reaction when he won the Eve toy for her, he can't help but smile under his mask at the memories of her. He sees the photos flying around in the air and just how close she is to the concrete floor now, he shoots a web from his wrist and watches it.

He watches as she reaches for, reaches for her literal life line. She misses it but Peter knows that it will stick to her torso. He spots a metal bar coming up that he can easily reach, what he doesn't realise, however, is that it's too close to the floor. 

He grabs the bar as the web sticks to Madeline's torso, he watches as the web is too long. He watches as she hits the floor, head first. He watches as her body becomes limp. He watches as he kills the daughter of Captain America. But more importantly.

He watches as his first love dies in front of his eyes.

He sticks the web to the bar he is holding onto before letting go. He hits the floor with a small thump and rips his mask from his face, tears are already falling from his eyes as he looks at her. Her body hangs limply in mid-air, Peter scoops her up bridal style and cuts the web. He holds her in his arms, afraid to let her go. 

This is his worst fear come true, losing a loved one because of who he is. He strokes some of her brown locks from her face as he tries to coax her back to life.  
"Hey, stay- stay with me, okay? Yo-you can't die. You mu-mustn't." It was no use, Madeline was already too far gone to be brought back like that. 

She can hear him but can't respond to him, she hears him trying to bring her back but she just can't do anything about it. Peter just cradles her body whilst trying not to hurt her anymore.  
"Stay with me, okay? I-I'm sure Mr Stark is on his way now. With your father and you'll be a family again-"

A gust of wind takes Peter by surprise, he looks out a now broken window to see what he thinks is a Quinjet. Thinking it's Tony come to save the pair, Peter carries Madeline outside in his arms.  
"Mr Stark I am so-"  
"Madeline!" Peter looks the person in the face to see Shuri and not Tony.   
"Shuri - your majesty, what? Why are you here? How did you-"  
"I gave Madeline a tracker should anything happen on the way to the airport and good thing I did too." Some kind of medical pod comes out the back of the ship and they lay Madeline on the back of it before it is rolled back onto the ship again. Peter tries to follow Shuri onto the ship but a woman in red armour stops him.  
"Okoye. I'm sorry but you can't come with, special personal only. Tony Stark is just arriving."

"Peter? Madeline? GUYS?!" Tony comes around the clock tower with an empty suit just behind him.  
"Peter! Where is she?" Peter turns back to the ship to see it has turned invisible and started to take off. Peter starts to freak out, is she alive? Why are they taking her away? Peter shoots a web onto the bottom of the ship to try and stop them but the web snaps as the ship pulls away.  
"No! NO! They are taking her away, Mr Stark we have to stop-" Peter is pulled into a hug by Tony, at first he resists at first before sobbing into Tony's suit. 

"It's okay-"  
"No, no it's not. It's my fault, it's all my fault-"  
"No, it's not. This one person's fault and one person's only. Harry, we are taking him into custody now. I'm sorry, kid."   
"Mr Stark, incoming call from T'Challa." Tony returns to his suit reluctantly.

T'Challa's image appears on the screen and Tony takes the call.  
"Tony, Shuri has just informed me of what has happened. We will do our best to save her-"  
"You're damn right you will. I'm not losing both Rogers and his daughter, you got that?"  
"Tony, there is only so much we can do but we will try our hardest to save her." Tony calms down a little before responding.  
"I'm sorry, I just - I don't want to lose someone who is like a child to me." T'Challa nods his head before giving Tony the Wakandian salute and singing off. 

Tony walks out the suit again, Peter is sat on the floor of the clock tower collecting up the pictures that flew out of Madeline's pockets just minutes earlier. Tony helps him and keeps an eye on him just in case he suddenly does anything unexpected.

When Tony's parent's died, Tony went mad. He didn't know what to do with himself so he drunk his days away until he took the company over. Tony doesn't know how to help Peter, yes he lost loved ones but it's not the same kind of love. Tony had family love with his parents, whereas Peter has romantic love, Tony could see that when he saw the message on the bridge as he flew into the city.

Peter keeps mumbling to himself aimlessly as he picks up the many sets of photos, he forgot just how many photos the pair had taken together. Tony hands him the rest of the photos and Peter shuffles them in his hands before reshuffling them again. Tony can only just make out what Peter is muttering to himself and he knows exactly what Peter is doing as he says it.  
"She's not dead. She's not dead. She's fine. She'll be back at school in September..." 

Peter was in the first stage of grief, denial. Next was anger, Tony knows Peter's going to take it out on himself, he blames himself for her accident. Bargaining was the third of the five stages, Tony knew first hand that it contained a lot of "what if..." or "if only..." statements, you want things to go back to the way they were before it happened. Depression would hit soon after, Tony drunk his away into an oblivion, god knows what Peter will do. The final stage is acceptance, the one that Tony has never come to terms with. 

Tony watches as the child continues to shuffle the photos in his hands, he steps forward and takes the photos from Peter. Peter just continues to shuffle nothing in his now empty hands, his eyes jolt around the room until they land on something. The ring.

"It must've fallen off when she landed." Tony looks at where Peter is looking and sees a small ring, Peter picks it up and slips it into his pocket.

Tony takes Peter by the shoulders and looks him dead in the face.  
"She's a fighter, okay? She'll survive, she has too, doesn't she? She needs you and you need her." Peter nods.  
"But right now, there is someone else who needs you. Your aunt, go home."  
"But-"  
"I'm not asking. I'm telling, go home to your aunt. She's going to be worried sick, I will call you if anything happens, alright?" Peter nods his head.

* * *

After dropping Peter home in his normal clothes, Tony drives down the road toward the facility. His suit sits in pieces scattered throughout the car, it's a large suit so it wouldn't fit in the boot of the car in one piece. He has his phone next to him on the passenger's chair, it is linked to the car to make sure he doesn't miss a notification. 

He drives in silence until his phone finally went off. He looks at the caller ID to see it is T'Challa, he answers it instantly with a glimmer of hope in his chest. 

"T'Challa, give me some good news, please." T'Challa sighs deeply before giving Tony his answer.  
"I'm sorry but she's gone, we couldn't save her in time-" Tony drives the car to the edge of the road and climbs out. He staggers out of the car, unable to breathe properly.

She's gone, she's really gone.

END OF BOOK


	21. Epilogue

He went back. Back to her apartment. Back to the small pieces of her that were left behind after the accident. 

He walked through the balcony doors with a heavy heart. He knows he shouldn't be there but needed to go one last time. 

Her room was the exact same as he had seen just weeks earlier. The walls were still red, colleges of photos were dotted around the room. Each had a different photo of the pair in the centre, the biggest one of all had the photos of the pair at Luna Park. She had made multiple copies of the photos so she could make art with them. Peter plucks one of them off of the wall, he wanted to keep it for old times sake. 

Her vanity was covered with books she never got around to reading and sheets of school work she never sorted out. Peter opened his bag and pulls out a small Ferris Wheel that he had made in class, he made it for her but never got the chance to give it to her. He was going to make it her Christmas present. He spent time on it after school to make sure it was perfect for her, he even made little baskets that she could put things in, like the ring he got her. 

Peter placed the wheel on her vanity gently. He looked around the room again, looking at the fairy lights that he had helped put up on her ceiling. She had multiple sets strung over the pieces of art she'd done and she had some twisted around the top of her bed.

With one last glance around the room, Peter closed her balcony doors. Webbing them shut before jumping over the edge and swinging back to his apartment.

* * *


End file.
